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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Need nominations for next month! Auster's City of Glass?
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Jul 21, 2016 06:04
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I found my epitaph: It is best to let sleeping facts lie. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 16:46
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Got started on this kind of late (sidetracked by first reading another book with elf wizards in it and then one without elf wizards) but am now one-third of the way through and greatly enjoying it. Catch myself wondering what the hell readers would have thought about this back in the 1920s.
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Jul 25, 2016 21:19
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This might be the best fantasy novel I have ever read. Like the best of fantasy, it's about what is true. It's a story of what truth and authenticity can be found in the delusions of dreams and everyday life. It's like the Note that the protagonist fears, the dreadful reminder of the Real outside of words or thought. It's compact compared to it's descendants (such as Little, Big), but almost every note of it is painfully, achingly true. Even the overt sweetness of the ending reminds of the redeeming possibilities of fantasy. And it's maybe the first time in years that I have been truly thrilled to read a book. This is what it was like to read a beloved book as a child. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jul 26, 2016 |
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Jul 26, 2016 20:04
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Finally finished this - got a bit sidetracked during the middle of the month, and it took me awhile to get into it. Once I hit the halfway point, though, I couldn't put it down. Just had to keep reading until it was done. There were many beautiful descriptions in the book that I loved, especially of nature and the countryside. I have mixed feelings about this book - I'm not quite sure what the overall message was, nor am I sure how I am meant to feel about the main "villain" of the story. His character definitely did some bad things, but for what seemed to be good intentions, and he did a lot of good as well. Much like his trial, his capture and death seemed a bit anti-climactic because I was a bit ambivalent about him overall. I am left wondering what is presented as a good way to live here - too much "fairy" causes harm, but it can't really be denied forever? Also a bit disconcerted by "fairy" seeming to represent an understanding of our mortality, but it also contains the idea that you don't die, given all the undead.
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Jul 26, 2016 20:28
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Enfys posted:Finally finished this - got a bit sidetracked during the middle of the month, and it took me awhile to get into it. Once I hit the halfway point, though, I couldn't put it down. Just had to keep reading until it was done. Books don't always have a 'message' my friend
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Jul 27, 2016 00:36
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I thought Neil Gaiman was pretty precise in saying it's about reconciling the mundane and the fantastic. Part of this is breaking down the binary of fantasy and reality - the observation that the Law is just a replacement for Faerie, and Nathaniel discovering the Lud-like landscape in the depths of Faerie, etc.
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Jul 27, 2016 00:45
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:I thought Neil Gaiman was pretty precise in saying it's about reconciling the mundane and the fantastic. I feel like this is pretty surface level. Like, it's accurate but I feel like the super strong taboo about even mentioning anything to do with faery culture has to be about something more significant than just mundane vs fantastic. I am not smart enough to figure out or argue what else it might be.
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Jul 27, 2016 02:28
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It's hard to believe that Neil Gaiman isn't very good at analysing a book.
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Jul 27, 2016 02:53
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:This might be the best fantasy novel I have ever read. <3 Thanks for posting this <3 Setting up these BOTM's actually does take a fair bit of work so I'm really glad people liked this one. Thanks!
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Jul 27, 2016 04:36
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Just noticed this, and I've always wanted to read this book since seeing it on the Fantasy Masterworks list, but have never gotten around to it for whatever stupid reason. Maybe I can finish it by the end of the month.Hieronymous Alloy posted:Need nominations for next month! If you want to continue with fantasy, how about David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus? If noir, maybe Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress?
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Jul 28, 2016 07:32
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Mel Mudkiper posted:If we're gonna start taking noms for next month, I want to recommend The Little Red Chairs by Edna Obrien. These were suggestions from the last BOTM
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Jul 28, 2016 20:41
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I suggest something by orhan pamuk b/c there needs to be more non-white/-asian lit being read
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Jul 28, 2016 21:54
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ooooh yes let's do Snow please and it seems topical
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Jul 28, 2016 22:31
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Good and topical, but not sure if this needs to be topical.
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Jul 28, 2016 22:39
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ulvir posted:I suggest something by orhan pamuk b/c there needs to be more non-white/-asian lit being read In the recommendation thread I suggested The Girl On The Stairs by Etgar Keret, an Israeli author
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Jul 28, 2016 22:42
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ulvir posted:I suggest something by orhan pamuk b/c there needs to be more non-white/-asian lit being read I agree, and since Hieronymous seems to be in the mood for noir, that's why I suggested Mosley. Actually if anyone has any good Asian crime/noir writers to suggest I'd be very interested. Lightning Lord fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Jul 28, 2016 |
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Jul 28, 2016 22:55
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Lightning Lord posted:I agree, and since Hieronymous seems to be in the mood for noir, that's why I suggested Mosley. I recently read Decagon House Murders by Ayatsuji which is a pretty classic murder mystery type. I've read All She Was Worth and Devil's Whisper by Miyabe which are crime novels that also focus in part on the personal debt crisis in Japan.
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Jul 28, 2016 23:08
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:<3 Thanks for posting this <3 Thanks yourself; I just finished it and what a lovely book it was. I like following these threads because it's cool to read some books I might otherwise never have thought to try.
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Jul 29, 2016 12:01
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