Court
Originally wasn't going to add such a simple book to my goodreads, but it really has helped my learner.
Couldn't find the issue from August 29, 2022
Listened to LeVar Burton read WOK HEI ST
BY GUAN UN.
It can also be read at: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/wok-hei-st/
I really enjoyed it. I loved the clever title Wok Hei St(reet) or Wok HeiSt. I love the heist genre.
I feel like I've listened to this one before...maybe at the time it wasn't on goodreads, maybe I had forgotten to mark it as read, or maybe it just feels so familiar.
I think I read this, or some facsimile there of.
One day I'll cave and purchase the collection and read this without doubt.
But for now, I've enjoyed one more Gaiman(esque) thing
It feels odd to give this five stars without a review.
This has led to me creating a new shelf because sadly I have read other works about gun violence in America.
So umm, parts of this are great, magical, intriguing, fun; other parts are ‘slice of life' and relatable, which are good, but I hated hearing about his sexual fantasies and dreams. And since I was listening to this as an audiobook it was harder for me to skim. Also breast are mentioned A LOT, and while I tried to have compassion that it might have been a fixation that one doesn't have control of it was still grating.
I'll be honest, I sometimes lost track of the characters and I mostly wanted to read this because I had heard that the main character might have been autistic.
Tazaki makes a lot of sense to me and I liked the importance/symbolism of names. It was a little confusing at times and hard to tell what was important. What was with the magic cloth bag and possible soul deal?
It ends with Tazaki ignoring the phone the evening before he's supposed to see Sara and find out if she's choosing him over a man he saw her with and hoping to propose to her...even though she's only said she's fond of him, whereas he's been very direct with ‘I love you' and ‘I want to be with you' multiple times.
Love how what feels like an introduction bleeds into the poem.
Lovely superhero allusions.
Going to share with a dear friend that recently had a daughter.
Found this because her poem ‘Type' was listed on Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf.
Skimmed. I really liked his portraiture work. Lovely landscape work, iconic swirly trees.
Added it to my kids nonfiction shelf due to the one page explanation of how steam engines work and the page of vocabulary
Huh... I feel like this took a sharp turn towards the end. Loved the characters. Stephanie seems like she's solid in her religion of Jehova's Witness, but at the end seems to have a deep attraction to the female ‘hippie' and seems to be displeased, near disgusted, at her proselytizing partner's mention of her intented. And then it just ends.
I wanted more...and was disappointed. I listened to LeVar Burton read this and he too admitted to being disappointed at the ending upon first reading, but he goes on to say that he read it two more times and felt more satisfied. He talked about liking his heroes to be big, but sometimes they're better than that; sometimes heroes are life sized.
Stephanie read as authentic to me, and perhaps to just have this (potential) struggle is enough. Burton spoke of it as taking the path of least resistance, but I think that it could be different, that she can make her own path.
3.5 rounded up because setting and characters were wonderful.
So much good input, advice, and sharing of experiences. Thoroughly enjoyed! I am now, however, hesitant to read (listen to) her “Thinking in Pictures”, since she stated a few times that she got somethings wrong...but we'll see
I thought that it was funny, and somewhat fitting, that she herself got into ‘label-locked thinking' in the later chapters about terms like artist and scientist.
It was essentially fan fiction. Lots of fandoms mentioned, sometimes that was fun, but other times lazy, cheap, or poorly done.
Sense of time was weird, story was supposed to have happened in one day , except for the campy ending.
This story had so much potential, I wanted it go a little deeper. For example, Why was writing down the prayer wrong? Or more about the details and (potential) problems of leading of a city by a female taking on a typically male role.
The art was problematic, it was occasionally hard to tell who was who, and the blending of drawn scenery with pictures of real objects was crude (there was a night scene where the moon and its gleam where digitally placed on a drawn landscape, not done well).
Additionally, this was labeled as historical fiction, but it was hard for me to get a sense of time. All I understood was that it was ‘before the Egyptians'.
I saw the short film of this a few months ago. The film is better because instead of relying on narration it has a soundtrack. However, this is still a moving little volume that pricked my eyes and made me sniffy.
At 48% I yell yes! when Radha asks if it's her fault Nikki isn't the prince
Then a few minutes later I really appreciate the courtesan trying to shift Radha's perspective ‘it's not about you, it's about him'
Around 78% when Matilde meets Radha at her apartment and makes the secret of Nikki about her. Why? Why anger instead of compassion why a feeling of betrayal rather that curiosity? AND then we found out that Matilde and Pierre slept together.
I felt that it was a bit of a cliche, but ultimately makes sense: Matilde was really emotional (from putting her mother in a home, for feeling “betrayed” by Radha for sharing about Nikki and not being available recently), and Pierre seemed to feel a mix of overlooked and wanted to get back at Radha. I appreciate that that's not the main reason for Radha wanting to leave her marriage.
Also liked the view point of “some people are in your life for only a specific amount of time” and was open to repairing the friendship with Matilde.
I rather liked how the client turned out to be Ravi's (soon to be ex)wife. It was a neat way to tie everything together.
Nikki ends up discovering he has four half sisters.
A little humor thrown in with many interesting facts. I loved the statistics, had a good amount of common sense, and gave me some things to think about which I'd like to think resulted in me becoming a little more open minded. Thanks Aziz.
Somethings were uniquely funny, some content seemed as if it was from summer bro movies. I did appreciate the sweet, sappy, made-you-smile end. You knew it was coming so it tied everything up nicely.
Glad I previewed this before bringing it to work. If prayer or your faith brings you comfort that's great, but as many of these were sensory based ‘fears' (would have appreciated a little nuance such as surprise, startle, discomfort, etc.) I think some sensory based coping would also help. This could also be faith based such as I can press my hands together and feel the pressure knowing that I am safe and loved, something like that, or taking a breath or closing eyes before saying the prayer.
Enjoy at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc7Vm4N0_8w
Haha, this was great, made me think of South Park's episodes where Eric befriends Cthulhu.
Now I just need to retain the difference between crocodile and alligator. Alligator has a wider, curved snout, like a “c”. Whereas crocodiles have a narrower, more angular snout, like letter “A”.
“Alligators are grayish black. Crocodiles are brownish green.”
I appreciate the positive view of LBGT individuals and women. I also abhor the white Jesus trope and like that he also addresses that one.