Four friends - JB, Malcom, Willem and Jude - meet in college and somehow remain friends throughout the following 30-something years. Sure, it was not Four friends - JB, Malcom, Willem and Jude - meet in college and somehow remain friends throughout the following 30-something years. Sure, it was not always smooth sailing, some really shitty stuff happens, and even some outright tragedies, but ultimately they somehow always came together when it mattered.
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Is it possible to simultaneously despise and hold a book very very dear? Or maybe this story just turned me in a blubbering, bipolar mess and... I should stop trying to justify my ratings. It sucked, I hated it so much, but it won't let me go so I have to give it a high rating.
Yet as soon as I managed to drag myself through the boring bits, I got engrossed in so much relatability: Malcom's worries about adulthood, Jude's low self-esteem, JB's addiction, and Willem's thoughts on codependent relationships. Only to come out loving Jude to pieces; warts and all. Not romantically mind, but rather akin to Harold and Julia's style, like a parent. I wanted to hold Jude and tell him I get his grief, or just nod along and agree that he messed up and had to deal with the consequences now. I wanted to be there to support and cheer him on, no matter what.
Score: 4/5 stars
If I were to choose between liking or disliking this novel, I'd definitely go for the latter. I'm so pissed at Hanya Yanagihara with her never-ending phrases, overcomplicated asides, and interleaved timeline, even if I can objectively see the merit in her writing style. And the amount of suffering she felt the need to lob our way, is so not something I'm suited for.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to dig a very deep (digital) hole to bury this book, because I can't stand this grieving mood that has taken over my mind.
He wanted the reminders to stop; he dreaded the day when they would.
I'm guessing that by now we all know that our perception of the world is not quite accurate, however do we know just how off we truly are? According tI'm guessing that by now we all know that our perception of the world is not quite accurate, however do we know just how off we truly are? According to Donald D. Hoffman: COMPLETELY. And that's good, because humanity's survival depends on a fitness-based perception, rather than an accurate one.
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Now normally, I would never voluntarily read this type of scientific non-fiction, but I had promised myself to give book-club suggestions a decent try... and finish reading them whenever possible. So here I am!
Things start out well enough, with very simplistic (if creepily intriguing) examples of brain surgeries improving the life of epileptics. It then takes a gentle turn into questioning the nature of human (and occasionally animal) perception, only to suddenly come to the conclusion that not only is it wrong, but quite possibly also irrelevant outside of active observation? That being said, we are insistently warned to heed our survival instinct and not jump in front of a speeding car.
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Unfortunately, in the end things started getting a bit too convoluted for my attention-span. By which I mean, that I could probably have found a Youtube video or two to better explain the theory being referenced, but... I was too lazy to look. Then again, I'm also the type of person who's not that bothered when advanced scientific concepts just pass me by. Well... not always.
Score: 3.3 / 5 stars
On the whole, I believe my attitude going into the book may not have been the right one. Instead of just curiosity, I could have benefitted from a more inquisitive mindset which would've propelled me to actually research some of the more advanced concepts being referenced. Alas... I'm just not that interested. Still, some of it caught my attention, such as the Necker cube experiment, and I spent several cross-eyed minutes replicating it.
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So if you enjoy reading about experimental scientific theories, and are up to snuff on your quantum physics theory, by all means give it a go. Otherwise... start with the first two chapters, and see how you feel about it....more
Jacob and Corina have all but retired from their thieving endeavors, until an irresistible job offer lands in their lap. To be fair, the operation scrJacob and Corina have all but retired from their thieving endeavors, until an irresistible job offer lands in their lap. To be fair, the operation screams "sketchy business" through all its pores, but the insane monetary reward has Jacob summarily dismiss most all of them.
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If I were an editor and someone had pitched the general outline of this book to me, I'd have jumped at the opportunity to get my hands on it. I mean, it has a whole lot of action-scenes, and an insane amount of misdirection, that eventually had me double and triple check every bit of information I'd stumble upon, inspite of my natural tendency to suspend disbelief.
Having the whole endeavor be presented from Jacob's point of view, was in theory a good move. Unreliable, yet lovable narrators can go a long way in obfuscating even the most obvious crimes. Yet despite my honest desire to give him the benefit of the doubt, Jacob's pompous narration put me off right from the get go.
It started out with the classic "let's glue the readers to the dictionary", moved on to a whole lot of artistic name-droppings (painters, sculptors, art pieces etc.), all of this amidst a million more or less interesting tangents whose only role was add to the word count. At one point, I found a paragraph made up of FIVE consecutive phrases in brackets...
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Still, I have to give Reyes props for managing to have me focus so much on the atrocious writing style, that Jacob's shifty credentials didn't ping on my radar until I had gone through three quarters of the book. The insane amount of name dropping and pompous art criticism had me fooled for most of the story. By the time I had finally cottoned on, I was so frustrated with the effort required to follow the flow, that I just didn't care. A pity, since the whole con turned out to be quite a clever long-time op.
Score: 2/5 stars
If this novel hadn't been chosen for my book club's last session, there's no way I'd have finished it, let alone be willing to look beyond the surface of the atrocious writing style. So I'm actually quite proud of myself for the amount of positive analysis I've managed to squeeze in here, instead of the outright rant-fest, that I had initially planned for it.
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If this is , I'm scared to think just how bad the rest of the competition was. If I were you, I'd skip this one, unless you're feeling particularly masochistic....more
I have always had a sort of love-hate relationship with positive thinking.
On the one hand, telling myself that things'll work out somehow, helped silence my panic-stricken rants. Though truth be told, these rants where mostly caused by reckless lack of studying for some of the most difficult exams in my life. On the other hand, everyone's luck runs out EVENTUALLY, and no amount of believing in oneself would magically fill one's mind with heretofore unknown Computer Networking theory.
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I was recommended this book, at a time when I had just left a job due to severe burn-out, so I was expecting at least a LITTLE BIT of help from a book (sub)titled Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking. So it came as a complete shock, when the first chapter pushed me into an even deeper depression. All it took, was reading a few small anecdotes about some well-known (to people OTHER than me) motivational speakers, who sooner or later ended up going bankrupt.
So now I was depressed, scared witless, and also on the brink of starting a new job I wasn't entirely sure I had chosen wisely. My reaction was to run of course, i.e. spending the following month attempting to glare the book into submission. This had about the same effect, as John Oliver and Rachel Dratch cursing Lupus into submission, pictured here below for your convenience.
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In the end, the looming 1-month deadline I had set myself, was nearly upon me, so I sucked it up and finished the book in under half a day. And strangely enough, I had never rarely felt better.
It had opened my eyes to what it meant to be a stoic: by no means one of those Hindu enlightened person to walk on hot coals. And most definitely not a saint who will suffer abuse till the end of time. Accepting that things are bad, doesn't stop you from removing yourself from being under their influence.
Then there was the absolutely perfect chapter on meditation. I could literally relate to every single piece of frustration, acceptance, and calmness of the author. It was no wonder, seeing as my first (and only) attempt at meditation had gone something like: "breathe iiiiii- IWantToBuyALamp -in, hold your breath, breathe ooooouu- StopPicturingLampShadesDammit -uut...".
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To be fair, this wasn't one of those books that I could just... get. Aside from the fearful first chapter, there was this chapter on getting over oneself. Literally. In a nutshell: I am me, but not really, but me and my environment, but also not really either, but yes, but no, but... so on and so forth. I (yes I, ME along with MYSELF) gave up at that point, and continued reading the rest of the chapter, while simultaneously tuning it all out.
Score: 4/5 stars
By the end of it I actually felt good about stuff: the book, myself, the world in general, etc. So I didn't know if things would work out. I still wasn't sure about my new job, or even... anything really. However I also wasn't feeling the need to ruminate over the fact that (some) of my randomly set goals were nowhere near complete....more
I have started reading the fifth installment of the Ice and Fire series, almost a year ago and at the time I could not have been more excited about itI have started reading the fifth installment of the Ice and Fire series, almost a year ago and at the time I could not have been more excited about it. I mean, every time I read about Tyrion Lannister's adventures, I would instantly be sporting a (slightly deranged) smile. But the book is over 1000 pages long, and my patience has only been legendary in its shortness.
So I started with re-watching every episode several times, occasionally mixing it up with a bout of Youtube conspiracy videos, and WIKI pages. The result? I'm now obsessed enough to pay for an HBO GO subscription and the occasional Targaryen paraphernalia.
[image] Yes, that's a very impractical Targaryen wallet on the right. And yes, it was hideously overpriced.
I loved every tourist overview of Westeros/Essos: - Tyrion's journey along the Royne - Bran's experimentation with his seer powers, by following the Reed twins in the caves, or time travelling in Winterfell's weirwood tree. - Theon's strolls around the ruins of Winterfell - Dany's "drunken" trip along the stream in the Dothraki Sea - Victarion's impression of the Isle of Ceddars
Character and story development-wise: - Arya's assasin 101 training proved to be a rather riveting experience - Cercei's stream of consciouness while imprisonned by the Fate ended up captivating me quite a bit - and of course the epilogue and its POV character were incredibly interesting as well.
... but there was also plenty of boredom to be had: - Jon Snow's moping and subsequent... ugh... misfortune left me unimpressed - Jamie Lannister's sulking didn't prove to be too interesting, either - Asha's prisoner experiences in Stannis' journey to Winterfell put me to sleep every single time - Dany and Ser Barristan's political machinations in Mereen were just plain booooring, not to mention the convoluted names of their numerous Ghiscari subjects/enemies confused me to no end - I could've done without Quentin Martel's bit of intrigue - and Jon Connigton's point of view wasn't nearly as interesting as its impact would've warranted - heck, even Tyrion's scheming in Mereen left me disinterested by the end
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That said, I am now free to finally jump on A World of Ice and Fire without feeling like I'm spoiling myself over and over.
Although my review would seem to imply otherwise, I am still invested in anything Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones related: conspiracy videos, filming leaks, fan art... you name it. As for the writing style, I'm just not that keen on George R. R. Martin... sorry?
Books have been burned, for as long as they have been written.
I've always feared that there would come a time when I'll stubbornly wish to r
Books have been burned, for as long as they have been written.
I've always feared that there would come a time when I'll stubbornly wish to review a book I've no business critiquing. The smart thing would be to just skip it, but then I don't like to give up without a... fight. Don't get me wrong, I did get the gist of it: censoring and burning books is a heinous crime; don't do it! If you don't believe me, read this brief little booklet, where the author explains it all in a much more impassioned way, with a liberal sprinkle of philosophical musings.
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When we hear of book burnings nowadays, most of us are probably picturing some sort of gathering of religious extremists . You know, the uneducated hillbillies that just don't know any better. On 10th May 1933 however, Erich Kästner was forced to realize that even promising young philosophy students can take part in such proceedings. It was of course a deliberate act orchestrated by "a small provocative Pyrotechnist, a fallen literate that was taking revenge on literature itself", i.e. .
Nine years later, Kästner has come to the conclusion that "while such methods can indeed destroy a nation", "books only die a natural death. They die when their time has come". In other words, those eager young students had only succeeded in committing both suicide as well as murder, in a gruesome type of 2-for-1 offer.
[image] Memorial the for Nazi book burnings, found in Frankfurt
This was a very difficult book to read for me. I had to start over several times because the words would just dissolve in my mind after a couple of sentences. But I did finish it in the end, and I did find several phrases that still resonate in my head. There were however, also several lengthy passages that might as well have been written in an obscure Martian dialect, for all that I understood.
Score: 3/5 stars
I feel so uncultured now. I know that there was this lenghty sequence of some really inspirational philosophical excerpt, that should've been meaningful to me. I should probably vow to try and read it again sometime, but I get tired just thinking of the prospect.
Also, I still don't get what kind of smut there was to be found in Kästner's children's books. Was that really the best excuse the Nazis could come up with?! On the other hand who cares? It was probably just a half-hearted attempt to motivate yet another one of their heinous crimes....more
I would occasionally stumble on a review of a classic novel, that is so thoughtfully written, without all tAvailable in English as The Giraffe's Neck.
I would occasionally stumble on a review of a classic novel, that is so thoughtfully written, without all that stuffy and pretentious school lingo, that I couldn't help but reread it numerous times... the review, not the book itself. Then, I would wish I could read something to inspire similar feelings in me. So I chose a nominee of the German Book Prize: big mistake.
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There is a little town in eastern Germany, where life is still simple and boring. Probably the last remnant of the communist regime, when education was still "serious business"... or so our protagonist - Inge Lohmark - laments at the start of every school year. She teaches Biology at a soon to be disbanded school, due to constantly diminishing student body.
The news is merely an excuse for Ms. Lohmark, to intensify her disparaging inner monologue about her students, her estranged daughter, her indifferent husband... and life in general. There's not much that our protagonist regrets, at least not when it comes to her own actions. If the rest of the world was so set in its mediocrity, then surely solitude must be a preferable alternative. Well, that along with a constant stream of unfavourable scientific comparison to animals.
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Then, unexpectedly, at the start of the school year, one of the high school freshmen, a scrawny little girl, starts to slowly break down the heroine's shell... and that was about the extent of my patience.
My main gripe is with the purpose of this book. What was the point of it? Reading it was costing me a huge effort, and I just couldn't keep justify it. Why should I care about any of the pretentious bullshit that inhabits the mind of cranky old woman? Come to think of it: why did the panel of judges at the German Book Prize?
Score 0.5/5 stars
I DNF this book at 54%, because there was just no way for me to stomach any more of Ms. Lohmark's disparaging remarks, full of scientific terms that I had to constantly look up in a dictionary. It's a fairly short book, barely over the 200 page mark, and yet it took me two months to slog through half of it....more
Ms. Smartarse
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