Fritz
Vernon God Little starts out a little weird when you have not been reading a whole lot of post-modern reading lately: Act I: Shit Happened. A little odd. But it sets the tone. The tone is always twofold. It's dark/sunny, texan/british (humorwise), sad/funny, bizarre/beautiful. This tone takes a few twists and turns which lead to a deeper character.
It is a wonderful dark comedy style that DBC Pierre is eloquent in. A beautiful mixture between a critique of a society and a coming-of-age story of a boy who is suspected of a massacre that he was not a accomplice in.
The reasoning why it gets a 3 out of 5 goes as follows. The book is a good read, a gripping story, well-written but it is not brilliant. Also I found the ending a bit too much of a feel-good-family film. I was prepared to see Vernon God Little die and was a bit disappointed, in a weird way, that he did not.
Anyway, another one of my Mann Booker List that I have read. Yes! 30-something more to go.
Another one in my list of South African literature must reads. It's a little project I have to find out more about the country where my parents hailed from.
It is interesting for me to find out so many things and situations, that have of course been fictionalized, that have been completely unknown to me. The history books they tell it, but they tell it rather poorly and rather briefly. It least that is the case in the Netherlands where I think part of the conscience remembers the Dutch that we are in fact the same people - the Afrikaners and the Dutch that is - with a few variations of course.
The book tells the story of a middle-aged down to earth teacher with quite a boring life that helps one of the schools black workers to find out how and why his son died, when he goes missing and is later found dead. The story unravels a structure and security state that reminds one of the dystopias found in Orwell's books.
A good book. Well written and compelling. A story reminding us now how happy we should be that that terrible tyranny has ended.
Misschien was het het feit dat het mij zeer groot werd aangeraden om dit boek te lezen. Wellicht slechts de kwaliteit van het boek. Om kort te gaan, ik was niet omver geblazen. Die verwachting was wel gaan leven door dat het mij werd aangeraden. Altijd jammer.
Het boek betreft een jongeman, Wolf, ten tijde van de verlichting die zijn taak als lijfeigene door weg te vluchten van zijn landgoed na een vervelend voorval. Als soldaat vervolgt hij zijn jonge leven totdat hij een muzikant tegengekomt met de naam Josquin de Pres. De muziek intrigeert Wolf in zulke mate dat hij zich aanmeld om bij deze in de leer te gaan.
Van daaruit komen zij op allerlei plekken in Italie en ontmoeten de wildste karakters (o.a. da Vinci), wat zeer vermakelijk is.
Het begon mij op een gegeven moment een beetje te traag te worden en de ogenschijnlijk willekeurige ontmoetingen met de grootste Meesters uit die tijd begonnen mij tegen te staan. Na halverwege het boek de flaptekst te lezen werd mij ook al duidelijk wat het einde zou worden. Al met al een zwaarder boek dan het had hoeven zijn.
Met de goodreads rating kom ik dan uit op: It was ok - 2 sterren
(gelezen ten tijde van mijn afrondende werk aan mijn thesis, helpt vast ook niet)
This remarkable book explores a fantastical story in which Hitler can be caught. Caught by the arts and theology; where history, politics, psychology and philosophy could not grasp the mystery that is Hitler.
A well written book with references to all kinds of arts and philosophies that are reminiscent of the style in which Chesterton builds an argument. With the same whimsical play of words and idioms that make the reader understand exactly what is being said without having it written explicitly.
Read through in two goes.
To conclude: 1 star for the original idea, 1 star for style, 1 star for references, 1 star for making me think of Chesterton, 1 star for a fantastic finish. 5 stars.
This is my first encounter with Hunter S. Thompson's writings. (Of course having seen the crazy interviews and Fear and Loathing, I had to read something).
This book reminded me of a cross between Hemingway's drinking prose rhythm combined with the manic ideas and crazy characters that Heller introduces in Catch-22.
Will make sure to pick another one o Thompson's up soon.
What a surprise I was in for. Stephen Fry is a bit of a dirtbag. But a real pompous British one at that.
Had some good laughs. Excellent vocabulary. Story was kind of a Cluedo story. 3 stars.
On the bus I started reading “On the Road”. And very aptly so. The frenzy and madness of a book which makes you relive travels if you know them and makes you understand them if you haven't, cannot better be read than when you are in a hurry in a crowded and confined space.
The narrative has a rhythm and a flow which made me surge through the book as the hero Dean races from one coastline to the other. A remarkable feeling to drop everything and just go is what it unravels.
The characters at times reminded me of characters in a Hunter S. Thompson novel (e.g. page 129). A lovely read.
What a splendid read. A portrait of the downfall of aristocracy in France and the victory of democracy in ‘the New World'. I cannot verify its historical accuracy nor am I able to understand in full the references apparently made to Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Still to read Carey's contemporary English with the story of the old America is great fun and of great interest.
In between the stories of both the servant and the master lies the commentary of America as we experience it and its consequences. Very cleverly done. All of it in a Blackadder (III) style master servant relationship.
5 points
Written in a sparse and minimalist prose the book is somewhat reminiscent of Cormack McCarthy's - The Road, although not as apocalyptic. The protagonist, Damon, spends most of its time on the move, looking for rest by the quiet rhythm of the hike. The hikes however became adventures that only brought more restlessness.
The novel is a triptych focusing on 3 journeys that require a very different role from Damon. All closing in a grande finale.
A rich story which finds its strength more in the stillness than an overflow of words.
I'm just going to mark this as read. It was a good book. But after 150 pages or so I feel I've got the message and it's just being repeated in other words.
short summary:
IMF and World Bank are both monetary institutions but both have a different mission. IMF often does not take advice to heart and the World Bank is more prone to have a participatory role.
Lovely collection of short stories essays. Interesting collection of articles and blogs on the events leading upto and after 25th of January on Tahrir square.
This is great. MSweeney's compiles the greatest short stories AND thoughtprovoking essays. Must read for any literary enthusiasts.
Not yet, have I ventured into the mysterious world of poetry seriously. I've read some John Donne and read some to and fro. But this ‘autobiography' of one of the English language's most important poets of the 20th century has certainly aroused my interest.
The book loosely follows the author as he travels across ages and styles into his life, an absurd array of stories which has its grande finale in “One Warm Saturday”
One last quote:
“Too much platitudinous verbosity!”
It was ok. A bit lengthy.. :)
Update in answer to someone who asked me some questions about the book.:
I believe War and Peace is a Romance fiction work as well as a quasi-historic account of the war between France (Napoleon) and Russia. It is not at all what you would expect from a Victorian era novel. Most of these are very intense and hectic and have quite manic characters (taking Wuthering Heights (Bronte), The Last Man (Shelley) and Crime & Punishment (Dostoevsky) as my frame of reference).
It is much more tranquil and reads much like a modern novel (far ahead of its time in that sense).
However, it is really lengthy. This puts a lot of people off, so bear with it. The romantic story is between the regal houses of Russia, their courtships are quite intriguing. My advice to be able to bear the length is: GET A PROPER TRANSLATION. The really cheap one is probably by Constance-Garnett, she translated quite a number of big Russian works in the early 20th century, but her style is itself quite Victorian, which can be exhausting and overloaded with quaint expressions like: “He was vexed at her deplorable disposition”.
What did I get from it? I guess I can say I read it, and was pleasantly surprised with the quite modern take on things. What is very typical in both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy's works is that they take a sidebar in the storyline. They reflect on the nature of history or the nature of philosophy and the impact it can have on a society.
So it is a “good read” but it takes patience :).
Difficult read. The narrative is complex and nonlinear, with bits and pieces coming back or taken from other conversations or lines of thought. Like a washing machine the story tumbles back and forth to finally arrive at the end of the story, after which you need to take the washing out to dry.
That's what I am doing now, still mauling over the story to let it sink in.
Beautiful but complex. This complexity at times also hampered feeling connected to the story.
This book is far more than a novel. It is a work of art. The book is about a young boy who “maps” everything. He sees himself as a cartographer and an aspiring scientist. He draws schematic drawings of nearly any phenomenon. The maps are a huge added value to the book. Almost every page has a little note or scribble that amplifies the perhaps intangible feeling or explains something that must have happened for it to have quite some impact on this boy.I must add a minor note. This book might not be very original in the sense of it being told from a young boy's perspective (think [b:Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 1618 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327882682s/1618.jpg 4259809] - [a:Mark Haddon 1050 Mark Haddon http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1337988298p2/1050.jpg] and [b:Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 4588 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327879967s/4588.jpg 1940137] - [a:Jonathan Safran Foer 2617 Jonathan Safran Foer http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1274633302p2/2617.jpg]). But that does not take away the sheer brilliance of each drawing and the slumbering romantic awakening in you at hearing the boy's adventures.Come borrow it sometime. It is quite something.
This book is a wonderful but extremely tragic look into a country harbouring one of the largest quantities of rare metals in the world. A country with vast and ancient forests that are the living room to mountain gorillas, lions, rhinos and other very interesting species. But also a country that has been plundered and ravaged by a series of severely misguided governments and heralded into the new millennium with a long and seemingly unstoppable war.
David van Reybrouck gives the reader a colourful cast and background and begins telling the story around the time “explorers” from Europe set foot on the shorelines where the Congo river licks the Atlantic coast.
van Reybrouck is a Belgian and he explains the role of Belgian in how the Congo of today was shaped by the governing (and lack thereof) by King Leopold. Other European nations had a lot more experience of governing a overseas territory by the time Congo was “given” to the Belgians in the Scramble for Africa. van Reybrouck lends grace to the King (being inexperienced), but also does not cast aside the numerous sins.
The story is being told with the accounts of witnesses, which makes for a very interesting read.
The more we head into the present in the book, the more tragic it becomes. The flamboyant Mobutu and the harsh reality of the Rwandan genocide that is still shaping the country today. It is hard to read this book and not look into our own selves to find our own darkness and mourn for Congo. To see our own stake in the mess that is Eastern Congo. Our Lithium Ion batteries (for our phones and cars) need rare metals that can be found in the Congo and there is more to gain from having a war going on in Congo, than there is to gain from bringing peace. It is sad, it is horrible and I have no idea what I can do about it.
Malcom Gladwell gets a lot of flak, about not getting the facts “straight”. Which I think is not really what he's trying to do. He's not a researcher as much as an essayist. So whether or not he got the science right is not very important to me as a reader. Although it would be a waste if certain falsehoods become a publicly accepted fact.
Regarding it as an essay I enjoyed reading Gladwell's optimistic style of combining certain stories to create a common thread. I didn't care much for the gimmick of starting a story very positively and asking a rhetoric question like: “He should be proud of what he achieved right? Everything is great now”. And then appending: “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
On the whole I enjoyed the premise of the book. Giants can be defeated. And being smaller or weaker does not have to be the end of it. It can also mean that you can be more creative and still outwit someone.
It might sound super obvious, but it is nice to be reminded of it. People will never voluntarily choose a path of more resistance like dyslexia, or worse. But adversity does cultivate cunning and creativity.
This book might end up on my list of favorites. What a wonderful energetic string of words this is. A delight to read.
No other words are necessary. Don't read the synopsis or the blurb. Just read the book.
This was a stunning book. Every human characteristic presented in a way that one can identify with: vile, disgusting and arrogant humans as well as noble, benevolent and good people. But most of the time, all these characteristics were all present in the same person at one point and lacking at another. It was very human!
The way the plot developed was similar to a Guy Ritchie movie: the focus of the story is on someone who is on the phone. She hangs up, the focus shifts to the other end of the line.
It was well written, intelligent and never boring.
Another fine book in the collection.
In the words of Dumbledore: “It is important to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated. Beautiful book.
This is a wonderful story of coming of age and finding splendor.
Written in marvelous prose it will leave you smiling