Feels fucking bad man.
What Are You Reading 2018 - Page 4
Forum Index > Media & Entertainment |
Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21242 Posts
Feels fucking bad man. | ||
farvacola
United States18768 Posts
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Sermokala
United States13543 Posts
Martin the warrior by brian Jacques. It was this beat up paperback sitting on a bench in a park. My parents had lost me and I sat down and started reading it. I was halfway through by the time they found me and I refused to leave until they let me keep it. | ||
123Gurke
France154 Posts
On January 24 2018 07:33 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html Feels fucking bad man. I have only every read The Dispossessed by her which I liked a lot but somehow I never tried any other book of hers. But after all the reactions on her death that I have seen, I am motivated to read more. Any recommendations? In the meantime: I am roughly halfway in, and so far not much has happened. I hope there will be more action later on... | ||
farvacola
United States18768 Posts
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Silvanel
Poland4601 Posts
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
Funny that people were mentioning Pynchon on the last page, I just started | ||
123Gurke
France154 Posts
I have read the first few stories and they are magical. It makes me think that I have not read enough SF for quite some time. I will definitely pick up the left hand of darkness afterwards. | ||
nunez
Norway4003 Posts
highlights in my reading since i have been gone: ishay landa on liberalism & fascism macpherson on individualism ilyenkov on mental / material (this book unlocked the concept of reification for me after struggling with it for a long time) mcnally on political economy now reading blunden on concepts, trying to hurry past the part on hegel to get to the part on marx. ishay landa is really good. | ||
Paljas
Germany6926 Posts
neat | ||
Silvanel
Poland4601 Posts
The book is much more technical than i was expecting. Tons of math (geometry mostly). Not popular science at all. You need to know a lot about modern physics to follow Penrose arugemntation. Nicely written. My main problem with the book is that author discusses topics mentioned in title only briefly. He acknowledges that such problems exits. That some teories are "fashionable", that is easier to get grants to work on them than on other less fashionable teories. That faith and fantasy also plays a role in science. No deep analysis of this. You get tons of math instead. | ||
Flicky
England2648 Posts
I want to preface the below opinions and thoughts by saying I found this book relatively hard to get through for various reasons and almost painful in some sections (because of how it made me feel, not it being bad). If any of you are keen readers and have no gotten around to it, I would definitely recommend reading it. With that said, opinions and so on below. + Show Spoiler + With regards to the overarching weirdness of the book (surreal and farcical situations reminiscent of surreal English comedy, the bizarre and incognizant representation of time and space which almost reminds me of an old videogame or a bad movie), I was fine with that. Not even knowing if any of Ryder's relationships are even real and random appearances from old school friends from England being in what I've decided is Liechtenstein, that's all fine: I can handle weird and scattershot. Many of the characters are just selfish, miserable and stubborn people that remind me all too much of many typical English people from my parent's generation and their progeny: completely concerned with themselves and not even appearing to be loving towards anybody, even their own children. When they interact, the absolute lack of actual conversation and the loop of stubborn selfishness between them just became hard to read - it was too real and too much like being a part of these conversations with their real world counterparts. In addition to that, the book constantly captures the mentality that some people are just unable to do certain things and a desperate and then a passionless clinging to convention. Refute, refuse or ignore anything that doesn't agree with you, your sentiments or any situation you've found yourself in (the silence between Gustav and Sophie, the fact that Miss Collins doesn't want you Brodsky.) I think the more American school of thought of "anyone can achieve anything" or "anyone can grow up to be the president" is the complete opposite of the English way, which is a lot more defeatist and cynical: You tried, failed and so you'll never amount to anything. Don't bother, just do what everyone else does. If it's good enough for everyone else, it's good enough for you. Then we get this feedback loop of everyone in this town being monstrously formal and entirely miserable and unsatisfied and a need to appeal to the few people that have risen to some kind of prominence in the pre-approved "good" thing, which is this case is high-culture of music (but not poetry). I think the fact that one of the only characters still trying hard and being positive despite this is quite young (Stephan) With the uncomfortable sharing of personal information, we really get an idea of how depressed everyone is, while also seeing that no one actually wants their problems solved, they just want to complain about them. This is much more a part of the English people than the "stiff upper lip" representation people hear than you may realise as a foreigner. Speaking of that, Ryder's insistence that he completely understands the place and the people he's visiting is also very English: not willing to actually learn the culture or admit mistakes, but just lording over it and judging it constantly - and means he never really seriously tries to be sympathetic or empathetic in any real capacity, making him exactly the same as everyone here. The formality of everyone involved almost acting as a block to actual interaction. This is something many friend who have moved here have remarked on - that the English say words and act politely, but it's either not felt or has no actual meaning behind it. Small talk of sorts. Various parts of the plot can be taken as being exactly like the twee English movies that are so popular here - sickly sweet movies of past loves, happy families or pets and pretty much anything else you can think of. The way these usually just end up in failure despite success, or just literal failure is great to see as someone who doesn't get anything out of those films. These usually have some amusing moments and occasionally some warmer, more positive human moments, which are then almost usually drowned out by a flood of negativity. I find it interesting that one of the few genuinely nice things that Ryder doesn't mess up (praising Stephan) is still remembered by the end of the book (not that it helps much with the outcome of that). Effectively for me, I take the whole book as a personal warning about turning out this way. About coldly giving up after failure and chasing the social norm (not questioning convention like having a wall in your town that blocks everything), about how selfishness and stubbornness completely delete any possibility of actual communication and about how stress and endless, forced tasks causes an endless loop of misery. The characters that were approaching happiness were much more open and carefree than anyone else and took actual time to relax and socialise in a casual manner. Compare the enjoyment of the group playing cards at the cinema/theatre, the people at any of the stuffy musical gatherings and the group at the Hungarian café. "England: get some rest and warmly put someone else first for a change" in 535 pages. I apologise for the disorganised bloat, but I could talk about how interpret this book for a long time. Best click post before I proofread over and over and keep adding to it. How does this compare to Ishiguro's other work? Worth reading more of it? | ||
imgbaby
158 Posts
On February 06 2018 04:10 Flicky wrote: The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro. Was recommended this ages ago by cheep, almost bought it, put it off, almost bought it, removed it completely from my to read list then added it, bought it and read it. I want to preface the below opinions and thoughts by saying I found this book relatively hard to get through for various reasons and almost painful in some sections (because of how it made me feel, not it being bad). If any of you are keen readers and have no gotten around to it, I would definitely recommend reading it. With that said, opinions and so on below. + Show Spoiler + With regards to the overarching weirdness of the book (surreal and farcical situations reminiscent of surreal English comedy, the bizarre and incognizant representation of time and space which almost reminds me of an old videogame or a bad movie), I was fine with that. Not even knowing if any of Ryder's relationships are even real and random appearances from old school friends from England being in what I've decided is Liechtenstein, that's all fine: I can handle weird and scattershot. Many of the characters are just selfish, miserable and stubborn people that remind me all too much of many typical English people from my parent's generation and their progeny: completely concerned with themselves and not even appearing to be loving towards anybody, even their own children. When they interact, the absolute lack of actual conversation and the loop of stubborn selfishness between them just became hard to read - it was too real and too much like being a part of these conversations with their real world counterparts. In addition to that, the book constantly captures the mentality that some people are just unable to do certain things and a desperate and then a passionless clinging to convention. Refute, refuse or ignore anything that doesn't agree with you, your sentiments or any situation you've found yourself in (the silence between Gustav and Sophie, the fact that Miss Collins doesn't want you Brodsky.) I think the more American school of thought of "anyone can achieve anything" or "anyone can grow up to be the president" is the complete opposite of the English way, which is a lot more defeatist and cynical: You tried, failed and so you'll never amount to anything. Don't bother, just do what everyone else does. If it's good enough for everyone else, it's good enough for you. Then we get this feedback loop of everyone in this town being monstrously formal and entirely miserable and unsatisfied and a need to appeal to the few people that have risen to some kind of prominence in the pre-approved "good" thing, which is this case is high-culture of music (but not poetry). I think the fact that one of the only characters still trying hard and being positive despite this is quite young (Stephan) With the uncomfortable sharing of personal information, we really get an idea of how depressed everyone is, while also seeing that no one actually wants their problems solved, they just want to complain about them. This is much more a part of the English people than the "stiff upper lip" representation people hear than you may realise as a foreigner. Speaking of that, Ryder's insistence that he completely understands the place and the people he's visiting is also very English: not willing to actually learn the culture or admit mistakes, but just lording over it and judging it constantly - and means he never really seriously tries to be sympathetic or empathetic in any real capacity, making him exactly the same as everyone here. The formality of everyone involved almost acting as a block to actual interaction. This is something many friend who have moved here have remarked on - that the English say words and act politely, but it's either not felt or has no actual meaning behind it. Small talk of sorts. Various parts of the plot can be taken as being exactly like the twee English movies that are so popular here - sickly sweet movies of past loves, happy families or pets and pretty much anything else you can think of. The way these usually just end up in failure despite success, or just literal failure is great to see as someone who doesn't get anything out of those films. These usually have some amusing moments and occasionally some warmer, more positive human moments, which are then almost usually drowned out by a flood of negativity. I find it interesting that one of the few genuinely nice things that Ryder doesn't mess up (praising Stephan) is still remembered by the end of the book (not that it helps much with the outcome of that). Effectively for me, I take the whole book as a personal warning about turning out this way. About coldly giving up after failure and chasing the social norm (not questioning convention like having a wall in your town that blocks everything), about how selfishness and stubbornness completely delete any possibility of actual communication and about how stress and endless, forced tasks causes an endless loop of misery. The characters that were approaching happiness were much more open and carefree than anyone else and took actual time to relax and socialise in a casual manner. Compare the enjoyment of the group playing cards at the cinema/theatre, the people at any of the stuffy musical gatherings and the group at the Hungarian café. "England: get some rest and warmly put someone else first for a change" in 535 pages. I apologise for the disorganised bloat, but I could talk about how interpret this book for a long time. Best click post before I proofread over and over and keep adding to it. How does this compare to Ishiguro's other work? Worth reading more of it? I did not read your analysis of "The Unconsoled." I have read "Never Let Me Go," "The Buried Giant" and "Nocturnes" (short story collection.). I liked by far most "Never Let Me Go." I liked this work because of the complexity of themes dealt with. It's like a little picture of life. The relationships and characters also felt real. to me. | ||
farvacola
United States18768 Posts
:D | ||
Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21242 Posts
I've read all the fiction Ishiguro has published and The Unconsoled is by far the most unique of Ishiguro's oeuvre. FWIW, and I don't think you touched on this in your analysis, The Unconsoled was very much intended by Ishiguro to invoke a dreamscape. He also expressed surprise that it was regarded as abstract and obscure as most readers have found it. Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day are usually where people get into Ishiguro. If you want another book about the English ethos, Remains is what you should read. It's a really fine book and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I would also, along very similar lines, recommend the short story Cellists from the Nocturnes collection. Never Let Me Go is, IMO, a much more immature work (and there are reasons for that based on how Ishiguro evolved as a writer), despite being his sixth book after some very fine works. It leans a bit too heavily on its melodrama and "twist", which while good for immediate emotional impact (it's just a really, really sad book), it also doesn't hold up particularly well to reflection in the same way that many of Ishiguro's other works do. The Unconsoled remains Ishiguro's masterpiece in my opinion, and I hope he will write another book that explores a similar style/theme. After that I would say Remains and The Buried Giant are very much worth reading. If you're extremely interested in some specific niche-y things relating to Ishiguro's writing process and his unique experience as a Japanese-but-not-actually author, A Pale View of Hills/Artist of the Floating World are worth reading. Of those two, Pale View prefigures some of the things he explores in Unconsoled w/r/t narration and memory (though to be fair, literally every single thing Ishiguro writes is about "memory") and Artist is really interesting as something that's simultaneously extremely Japanese and extremely distorted from a Western lens. I also wrote this for 4chan + Show Spoiler + Definitive Ishiguro Power Ranking: >Canonical masterpiece tier The Unconsoled - S >Beloved classic tier The Remains of the Day - A+ The Buried Giant - A+ >Delightful intro tier Cellists - A Crooner - B >Flawed but touching tier Never Let Me Go - B+ >Novel experimentation tier A Pale View of Hills - B >Traditionally proficient tier Artist of the Floating World - B- >Flawed experimentation tier When We Were Orphans - C Nocturne - C Come Rain or Come Shine - C- Malvern Hills - C- | ||
imgbaby
158 Posts
On February 10 2018 06:31 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: I'm really glad you finally read The Unconsoled and (seems to have?) enjoyed it Flicky I've read all the fiction Ishiguro has published and The Unconsoled is by far the most unique of Ishiguro's oeuvre. FWIW, and I don't think you touched on this in your analysis, The Unconsoled was very much intended by Ishiguro to invoke a dreamscape. He also expressed surprise that it was regarded as abstract and obscure as most readers have found it. Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day are usually where people get into Ishiguro. If you want another book about the English ethos, Remains is what you should read. It's a really fine book and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I would also, along very similar lines, recommend the short story Cellists from the Nocturnes collection. Never Let Me Go is, IMO, a much more immature work (and there are reasons for that based on how Ishiguro evolved as a writer), despite being his sixth book after some very fine works. It leans a bit too heavily on its melodrama and "twist", which while good for immediate emotional impact (it's just a really, really sad book), it also doesn't hold up particularly well to reflection in the same way that many of Ishiguro's other works do. The Unconsoled remains Ishiguro's masterpiece in my opinion, and I hope he will write another book that explores a similar style/theme. After that I would say Remains and The Buried Giant are very much worth reading. If you're extremely interested in some specific niche-y things relating to Ishiguro's writing process and his unique experience as a Japanese-but-not-actually author, A Pale View of Hills/Artist of the Floating World are worth reading. Of those two, Pale View prefigures some of the things he explores in Unconsoled w/r/t narration and memory (though to be fair, literally every single thing Ishiguro writes is about "memory") and Artist is really interesting as something that's simultaneously extremely Japanese and extremely distorted from a Western lens. I also wrote this for 4chan + Show Spoiler + Definitive Ishiguro Power Ranking: >Canonical masterpiece tier The Unconsoled - S >Beloved classic tier The Remains of the Day - A+ The Buried Giant - A+ >Delightful intro tier Cellists - A Crooner - B >Flawed but touching tier Never Let Me Go - B+ >Novel experimentation tier A Pale View of Hills - B >Traditionally proficient tier Artist of the Floating World - B- >Flawed experimentation tier When We Were Orphans - C Nocturne - C Come Rain or Come Shine - C- Malvern Hills - C- I have to respectfully disagree with your analysis of "Never Let Me Go." This work has many puzzling qualities + Show Spoiler + Why did the children never leave Hailsham? Well for starters they don't believe they are human which is clear enough, but what are the obstacles keeping them from believing this? Riddle me that. | ||
maybenexttime
Poland5232 Posts
+ Show Spoiler + The former was an enjoyable read, albeit at times a bit chaotic in terms of the narrative. It is a strange book, but recommended. The latter is a book on how language influences the way we think and perceive reality. It is divided into two parts. The first part gives a historical account of the topic, while the second part discusses three ways in which language can affect our perception and thinking which are backed by actual scientific findings. I found the book rather interesting. Currently, I'm reading the fourth installment in the series of crime stories about Erast Fandorin authored by Boris Akunin, "Death of Achilles". So far so good. On top of that, I'm studying "CALPHAD: A Comprehensive Guide", a textbook on computational modelling of phase diagrams. + Show Spoiler + | ||
The_Red_Viper
19533 Posts
It has a very special atmosphere, basically creating an own myth here while playing with some mythology people are familiar with. The only real criticism i have is that the dialogue between our main characters, an old couple, is sometimes a bit too stilted and Axl should think about more nicknames for his wife This was my first Ishiguro and i plan to read more. Next book(s) i will read: When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanithi and The Road by Cormac McCarthy Both probably emotionally draining but i am interested in the topic of the memoir and i was looking forward to read a McCarthy book for some time now. | ||
farvacola
United States18768 Posts
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Silvanel
Poland4601 Posts
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