Lucille Ancrath
I liked it. As others have said, nothing much happens and there is a whole chunk of time that is missing for no good reason. But the characters are endearing and the constantly witty writing made me chuckle a few times.
You know how the first few of the Harry Potter books have that childhood innocence about them? They're written through the eyes of a good natured, inquisitive boy and so as children we just went with it, and didn't question where the fuck the adults were... Well the Doldrums give me that same feeling. I think we need a lot more books with yound characters who are still pure and good and see the world as a generally safe place.
As an adult, I prefer to reading books with great parenting, like The House on the Cerulean Sea, but I don't think middle graders care much.
I also listened to this book and missed out on all of the lovely illustrations that come in print.
I found all of these to be drier than a vacuum cleaner. Ideas themselves are good but the way he writes is a mix of 1800s Frankenstein and 2000s white paper on social economics written by an AI. The only story that has stuck with me in a positive way is The Great Silence, but I've heard that one a long time ago on Curio.
The post war desolate atmosphere is thick and wraps everything in the avail of timelessness and mild depression while the two main characters babble their way in circles, sometimes normal, other times imbecile. The humor has roots in the art of making fun of the dumb, the unable and the poor, which I disdain, but it also has some good moments and the language is very quick, and at times impressive, especially since the original was crafted in French.
Ted-Ed says this play is a part of the “Theatre of the absurd” movement and even though I don't really know what that is, it sounds about right. In general, I don't enjoy non sensical tales and didn't expect much from this, but I gave it a try because it is famous and quite short. Oh and if you didn't know, there is a recording of the entire play/movie on YouTube.
Overall, I understand what Beckett was trying to show us about life and time and waiting and wanting and needing and not having and never reaching the end; but having to sit through this felt like I was trapped in there, with him - and perhaps that was intentional, but dear god, let me out.
mild spoiler about the cause of the main conflict - no details
I love the idea of this book - terraforming, time travel, science, hostile environment - it's all the things I'm interested in. But what annoys me to no end is that the main conflict is caused by a scientist failing to follow basic procedure.
Now I know some people won't care about this stuff and will consequently enjoy this novella way more than I have. But I'm tired of reading stories about top tier, hand-picked, veteran scientists who somehow disregard orders on a whim - even though that will most likely compromise their research. This simply isn't realistic and doesn't happen nearly enough in real life to be the main cause of conflict in so many books. Yes, human error is normal, but when the most basic “come back, put on the gloves” types of orders get ignored only because the story needs a conflict, that's just laziness on the writers part.
As a side note, I had the same problem with Planetfall (not a spoiler) where half the conflict stemmed from people magically not agreeing upon basics before going to space to form a colony. Things like “if someone attacks us, do we kill them or stun them?” are agreed upon BEFORE the mission. (If you like this novella you should read Planetfall too).
Other than that, Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach is pretty cool, though I think it would benefit from another 100 pages or so. There's a lot of scientific jargon and concepts in here that just don't have the time to fully sink in. More pages would also add more depth to the main character's inner dialogue, which would make her relationship with Kiki even better.
But other than all of that, I did like it, it has a good backbone and I'd read a sequel.
I gave this 4 stars because I think it should be in Young Adult and as such it is a fun read. But as Adult Fiction... nah. It reminds me a lot of Winter's Orbit in a sense that the world and story work on the surface, for the purpose of a fun, casual story, but if you think deeper for 5 minutes it absolutely falls apart. Again, as YA this is common and generally accepted at this point. But I personally don't think these books belong in Adult Fiction.
I think I like this one more than A Dead Djinn in Cairo. Probably because it packs a simpler story in a longer format. There's way less info dumping and the writing style over all feels more... comfortable, perhaps? There are still some amateurish moments throughout, but I don't think it breaks emersion or anything like that.
This follows Kim from when she's a little girl to adulthood and talks about all the social issues Korean women had (have) to deal with. Essentially, it will give you the context and background for a lot of current issues.
And in case anyone is wondering, I wouldn't call it feminist at all. The book is a bit dry and in a way a compilation of everything wrong with the society, but not at all untrue. As I was reading it, I recognized most of these issues, since they're also prevalent where I'm from.
It took me a long time to finish these and I'm honestly not a fan. The way he describes the events is just kind of weird to me, it's like I'm reading a medical journal with step by step instructions. It's all very precise and well said, but my mind kept drifting away.
As far as creepy tales go, I much prefer H.P.Lovecraft's descriptions and suspense building.
This ‘almost a memoir' is funny and charming and very real at times, but also kind of distant. It can honestly feel like playing a story driven video game, but skipping half the cutsceens. Lane glazes over parts of her life that are probably painful to remember, but because of this we are left in the dark on why some things are the way they are. I bet she could write another 500 page ‘Memoir Part 2' about all the things that were left out in this one.
Despite this, I really enjoyed it. I've listened to an audiobook version read by the author herself and it was a great audio experience.
PS, for those who are wondering if this is a self help book, it isn't. I wouldn't even classyify it as that type of memoir that leaves you empowered and motivated. How to Be Alone is simply a witty, feel good, but also sad and confused, but then good again book about one girls journey through life.
Good intro, but I don't think it manages to explain the author's way of “unconventional” card reading. He gives a couple of examples, but they are all kind of short and kept on surface level. I wish he went more in depth on how he comes up with his analysis.
I also don't feel like every book needs to have meanings for each card or rather conventional meanings. Vincent is interesting because he is a little “different” so I would have preferred if he kicked out traditional meanings all together and focused more on his own work.
Faithful to its title. I really liked the introduction and how the author emphasized doing what feels most natural to you. I also appreciate that she put effort into explaining reversals. Yes, sometimes they are just the opposite, but often they carry a deeper message.
One gripe I have with this book is that Cups get 3X more info than the other minor arcana. This implies that the author could have written a lot more about all of them but for some reason just focused on Cups.
I've listened to the audiobook version on Scribd so I don't exactly have it in front of me to draw notes and analyse. Though I'd like to do just that, so I might buy a physical copy.
I'd also like to read the other book by this author, called: Reading the Tarot - the Ultimate Guide to the Rider Waite Tarot Cards
Going into this I was expecting to hear about black cats and European centered magic, and while the first few chapters are covering just that, the author actually branches out and talks about various other cultures and myths.
In this book, a familiar is pretty much any “imaginary” entity which talks to and guides a human being. This loose definition allows the author to draw and showcase many different connections and similarities between the ancient myths, worldwide.
Some people will have a problem with this, but I think it is very interesting and raises some good points. I also really like that the author explained the origin of some well known words / names. This new knowledge changed the way I view those words and myths created around them.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this book and will probably purchase a physical copy so that I can re-read some parts at my own pace. The author also cites numerous other sources which I'd like to check out.
As a causal, out-of-curiosity reader, I really just wanted to hear what the title says: How marijuana can improve your life. Unfortunately, this message got muddled by all the THC to CBD proportions that are constantly mentioned throughout this book.
The author clearly did a lot of research, which she quotes regularly (props for that), and knows what she is talking about. But perhaps the majority of this technical data should've been used to make another, more instructional book. I'm sure there are cannabis users out there who appreciate all the proportions, relations and mixes that author talks about, but for a non-smoker, it's overwhelming and unnecessary.
I found the later chaptes, specifically 8: ‘A powerful support for cancer treatment' and 9: ‘Easing the aging process' to be the most interesting. This is partially due to the fact that the author didn't mention THC-CBD as much and partially because these two chapters tell an actual human story and not just quote research. The author also makes it very clear that cannabis should be used as an aid and not as a “cure”.
My final thought on this and other nonfiction books is that for a book to read like a book and not like a thesis or a white paper it needs to tell a story. The only details I remember from The Little Book of Cannabis come from parts that told mini stories about baking, death, struggle with illness, etc. These stories help the reader connect the facts and data to real life and make them memorable. I wish the author focused more on these and less on technical data of compound proportions.
Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller spends the first 40 pages convincing readers that he is qualified to talk about branding. Considering that readers have (most likely) already purchased his book, I feel like this is a complete waste of time and paper.
The rest of the book is alright, but not great. It basically just tells you what his 7steps to making a good brand are and then expands on each step. But in my opinion, he should have polished up this process and made it clearer.
The way this book is set up, you need to follow a linear trail from one step to the next, when in reality most of the steps depend on each other. If your goals and products are clear, you're probably fine going one step at the time, but if you haven't quite figured yourself out, you start to realize that there is more to these steps then the author is saying. This is especially evident if you are one person trying to develop a personal brand - meaning you aren't an already established brand specializing in e.g. energy bars.
Because of this, I feel like this book is one giant brochure made specifically for brands. A CEO would see this and go “Hey this guy knows what he is doing, let's set up a meeting with his branding company” (which Miller clearly advertises on every second page). But then somehow ‘Building a Story Brand' also became a bestseller? And a bunch of entrepreneurs have read it? And now artists and Instagram pet moms are reading it and his audience is no longer just companies.
Did Miller intend this from the start? Because if so, this really isn't a great book. My recommendation to potential readers is to go online and find a good summary instead of spending money on what is essentially a bloated blog post.
Too much corpse fucking. The first story is interesting and has a resemblance of necromancy though none of it is explained in any capacity, but the rest is basically a compilation of 101 ways to bone a ghoul. Gore and sex descriptions are on point, I suppose, though the characters are only shallow, horny husks of real people - which gets boring fairly quickly. I've definitely read fan fiction with the same themes that had more emotional and philosophical depth to it, while being much shorter.
I also disagree about this being a book for people looking for necromancy as I'm one of those people and the things I'm looking for are blood magic, corpse resurrecting, body mutations, forced communication with the afterlife, etc. You know, the regular gore. This book, however, is mostly about having sex with dead so in my opinion, it crosses the line towards necrophilia. You'll either love it or be bored and/or disgusted by it.