The History of the Nun was published in 1689, and the Fair Jilt in 1688.Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi
The History of the Nun was published in 1689, and the Fair Jilt in 1688.
Last edited by OrphanPip; 01-18-2012 at 05:26 AM.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Wow, that is quite early for prose. I read Don Quixote, but aside from that, I don't think I've read much at all pre-1800. I'll have to check some of the other 1600s stuff out sometime.
Aphra Behn - History of the Nun - 6/10, I get a lot of enjoyment out of how ridiculous early prose stories can be.
Aphra Behn - The Fair Jilt - 7/10. This one is more ridiculous than the other, and thus better in my book.
Eliza Haywood - Love in Excess - 6/10. Not big on amatory fiction really, but this is one of the 3 best selling novels of the 18th century.
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist - 9/10. Not really one of Dickens' best, but it's one of his funnier novels, and who can forget Fagin, Mr. Bumble, or Sikes.
Lynn Breedlove - One Freak Show - 7/10, a transcription of lesbian/trans man musician and comic Lynn Breedlove's show One Freak Show, essentially a series of humorous anecdotes about her life and the status of trans people in the LGBT community in the United States. Some parts of it are not that great, but it's a short breezy read, so the bad parts are easy to overlook.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
2. Another book of short stories from Lovecraft, 10/10 he's a master.
3. This Seneca book, 6.5/10. Sooo, life is long if you read philosophy and dedicate a chunk of every day to thinking about it? Shocker, the philosopher is pro-philosophy.
Last edited by JuniperWoolf; 02-07-2012 at 04:22 PM.
__________________
"Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. At first the brightness was overwhelming, but I had seen that before. I kept looking, forcing myself not to blink, and then the brightness began to dissolve. My pupils shrunk to pinholes and everything came into focus and for a moment I understood. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal."
-Pi
Note: My ratings are based mostly on enjoyment of the text.
1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood -- 9/10. 2012 is off to a good start. This book was excellent. A compelling story that really kept me turning the pages. I loved the back and forth timeline; it was brilliantly utilized. Ths was my first Atwood book, and I'm looking forward to reading more from her.
2. Dubliners by James Joyce -- 7/10. If it wasn't by James Joyce and I didn't feel an overwhelming need to have liked it more than I did, it would have probably received a lower rating. I'm just not a huge fan of "slice of life" stories, now matter how beautifully written (and, honestly, I was expecting more in that department). I did find some of the stories charming, though, and the last paragraph of "The Dead" was particularly brilliant.
3. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari -- 8/10. It's the story of a bet made between god and the devil on whether a kid (Joby), by the age of 40, will choose to be good and evil, and all of creation depends on his decision. I found it to be a very good read, very engaging, and I became very attached to the characters, while really hating others. One of the things that really bothered me, and something that knocked it down a point, is the author's overuse of italics. It became distracting. Still highly recommended, though.
1. 1Q84 (book 1) by Haruki Murakami -- 7/10. I think the trilogy can go in any direction from here. Might become one of his finest or one of his worst. I am looking forward to reading the second.
2. 1Q84 (book 2) by Haruki Murakami -- 8/10. Really a good follow-up from the first book. The pace has quickened and the story is getting more and more weird in a very Murakamian way. Now I cannot wait for the last book to get translated into Danish.
3. Enten-Eller by Søren Kierkegaard -- 10/10. Simply brilliant. By far the best I have ever read in my native language. I didn't understand all parts of it, but nevertheless loved the prose and musings on moral, love, passion, marriage, the arts etc. Really makes you think about how to live the good life, and that is to me what philosophy like this should be all about.
The Prince by Machiavelli-- 10/10. Machiavelli was a boss.
Paradise Lost by John Milton-- 5/10. The story was good, but Milton's poetry is so, so slow. I kept falling asleep while trying to read the thing. And oh yeah, the view of love sucked.
So far (1st book and a half of 1Q84), so good. Watching the story unfold (well untangle is a better word for it) in front of me is quite enjoyable (8.5/10 for now, probably higher once I finish it). I just finished Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus--a brilliant book, particularly for those familiar with modern music and late Beethoven. It functions well as both a sardonic portrait of bourgeois culture during the Weimar era, and a fascinating allegory whose tangled webs of symbolism take a while to seep in (9/10 at the moment). Reading an article on JSTOR comparing it to Conrad's Under Western Eyes certainly helped. Will have to get to reading that at some point.
Last edited by dysfunctional-h; 01-25-2012 at 12:57 AM. Reason: my original post was overlong DX I'll just talk about that crap on my blog.
Note: My ratings are based mostly on enjoyment of the text.
1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood -- 9/10. 2012 is off to a good start. This book was excellent. A compelling story that really kept me turning the pages. I loved the back and forth timeline; it was brilliantly utilized. Ths was my first Atwood book, and I'm looking forward to reading more from her.
2. Dubliners by James Joyce -- 7/10. If it wasn't by James Joyce and I didn't feel an overwhelming need to have liked it more than I did, it would have probably received a lower rating. I'm just not a huge fan of "slice of life" stories, now matter how beautifully written (and, honestly, I was expecting more in that department). I did find some of the stories charming, though, and the last paragraph of "The Dead" was particularly brilliant.
3. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari -- 8/10. It's the story of a bet made between god and the devil on whether a kid (Joby), by the age of 40, will choose to be good and evil, and all of creation depends on his decision. I found it to be a very good read, very engaging, and I became very attached to the characters, while really hating others. One of the things that really bothered me, and something that knocked it down a point, is the author's overuse of italics. It became distracting. Still highly recommended, though.
4. Collected Fictions by J.L. Borges -- 8/10. Definitely some of the most interesting short stories I've read. I loved some, wasn't too crazy about others, and sometimes I just didn't know what the hell was going, but his originality really struck me as brilliant.
1. The Departure by Neal Asher. A solid sci fi about an overcrowded dystopian earth that has become ruled by a world government - with frequent references to the Eurozone - which has decided to annihilate a large portion of the billions who would die anyway. Our hero, Adam Saul, has developed an organic interface to computers and implanted it in his brain in order to overcome the military backed bureacracy. Pacy beginning to a new series. 7/10
2. The House of the Dead by Doestoyevsky. A brilliant depiction of life in a Siberian jail in the 19th century. The characterisation, the relentless drudgery described, the themed chapters that veer away from a chronological account, the events that punctuated the years in jail and the pathos of the men and animals all combine in to a life of slow horror. 10/10
Note: My ratings are based mostly on enjoyment of the text.
1. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood -- 9/10. 2012 is off to a good start. This book was excellent. A compelling story that really kept me turning the pages. I loved the back and forth timeline; it was brilliantly utilized. Ths was my first Atwood book, and I'm looking forward to reading more from her.
2. Dubliners by James Joyce -- 7/10. If it wasn't by James Joyce and I didn't feel an overwhelming need to have liked it more than I did, it would have probably received a lower rating. I'm just not a huge fan of "slice of life" stories, now matter how beautifully written (and, honestly, I was expecting more in that department). I did find some of the stories charming, though, and the last paragraph of "The Dead" was particularly brilliant.
3. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari -- 8/10. It's the story of a bet made between god and the devil on whether a kid (Joby), by the age of 40, will choose to be good and evil, and all of creation depends on his decision. I found it to be a very good read, very engaging, and I became very attached to the characters, while really hating others. One of the things that really bothered me, and something that knocked it down a point, is the author's overuse of italics. It became distracting. Still highly recommended, though.
4. Collected Fictions by J.L. Borges -- 8/10. Definitely some of the most interesting short stories I've read. I loved some, wasn't too crazy about others, and sometimes I just didn't know what the hell was going, but his originality really struck me as brilliant.
5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman --7/10. I wanted to like this book more than I did, even though I did really enjoy it. After all the praise, I was expecting too much, though. The ideas were original, but I just didn't find the main character's attitude about his situations believable.
Last edited by Mutatis-Mutandis; 02-04-2012 at 10:43 PM.
1. The Departure by Neal Asher. A solid sci fi about an overcrowded dystopian earth that has become ruled by a world government - with frequent references to the Eurozone - which has decided to annihilate a large portion of the billions who would die anyway. Our hero, Adam Saul, has developed an organic interface to computers and implanted it in his brain in order to overcome the military backed bureacracy. Pacy beginning to a new series. 7/10
2. The House of the Dead by Doestoyevsky. A brilliant depiction of life in a Siberian jail in the 19th century. The characterisation, the relentless drudgery described, the themed chapters that veer away from a chronological account, the events that punctuated the years in jail and the pathos of the men and animals all combine in to a life of slow horror. 10/10
3. The Battle for Crete by Anthony Beevor. An interesting and comprehensive account of the fall of Crete in WW2 when the Germans launched their first and only parachute invasion. It charts the dithering and incompetence of the British command, and how they lost a battle they nearly won. 8/10
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip Dick. Set in a dystopian, nuclear future, a Bounty Hunter is charged by the police department to "retire" 6 new androids produced by a shady corporation. It examines the relationship of man to living and non-living beings in an autopsy of empathy. A good, though provoking read. 8/10
4. A Game of Thrones - I've heard way too much about it not to read it. I usually hate fantasy, but I didn't hate this one. Good characters, I loved Jaime Lannister (and the twin sex was somewhat intriguing). 7/10
I think someone in my house has this one laying around somewhere, maybe I'll give it a go next.
Last edited by JuniperWoolf; 02-07-2012 at 04:22 PM.
__________________
"Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. At first the brightness was overwhelming, but I had seen that before. I kept looking, forcing myself not to blink, and then the brightness began to dissolve. My pupils shrunk to pinholes and everything came into focus and for a moment I understood. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal."
-Pi
1. Aphra Behn - History of the Nun - 6/10, I get a lot of enjoyment out of how ridiculous early prose stories can be.
2. Aphra Behn - The Fair Jilt - 7/10. This one is more ridiculous than the other, and thus better in my book.
3. Eliza Haywood - Love in Excess - 6/10. Not big on amatory fiction really, but this is one of the 3 best selling novels of the 18th century.
4. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist - 9/10. Not really one of Dickens' best, but it's one of his funnier novels, and who can forget Fagin, Mr. Bumble, or Sikes.
5. Lynn Breedlove - One Freak Show - 7/10, a transcription of lesbian/trans man musician and comic Lynn Breedlove's show One Freak Show, essentially a series of humorous anecdotes about her life and the status of trans people in the LGBT community in the United States. Some parts of it are not that great, but it's a short breezy read, so the bad parts are easy to overlook.
6. Richardson - Pamela - 5/10. This is a painful read but a very influential book, the first part is much better than the "how to be a good housewife" manual that forms the final part of the novel.
7. Arthur Conan Doyle - Sign of Four - 8/10. Campy, fun Sherlocke Holmes novel that is terribly racist in parts.
8. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey - 9/10. Probably Austen's funniest novel, we all know a girl like Isabella Thorpe.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
A Game of Thrones is the best fantasy I've read. Once I got used to the one chapter per character view approach, which I initially didn't like, I was hooked. It was only a blip though because Martin is an excellent writer and the story is really strong with fantastic characters as you pointed out.
Do Androids....The title put me off somewhat for a while - I thought Blade Runner was a better one, but actually the title is entirely appropriate. I kept seeing flashbacks to Harrison Ford in the film - though I had only a hazy idea of the story. (It was a long time ago and I think I'd had a few). The book, as is usual, has much more in it, though not all the ideas worked for me such as Mercerism.
Sorry - I've been blabbering on again.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
