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What I Just Finished Reading
Placeholder – Placeholder
For reasons.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Original Dream – Nukila Amal
The Buddhist references are definitely intentional. I'm ¾ of the way through and it's been a bit of a mixed bag: some chapters are scintillating and some are a trek to get through. Amal has her narrator explicitly say as much, so I think this is the author demonstrating a point. Individuals and elements from opening chapters have also reappeared in ways that provide context to their initial, unexplained introductions. I'm interested to see how it all wraps up.
Journey into Mystery vol. 1 – Kieron Gillen et al.
Still amazingly good. I've really come to like the disir and am rooting for them to prevail over a certain character, and the issue with Volstagg and his children is an absolute gem.
Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans – Min Byoung-chul
Still an interesting read, although some of the generalizations are (as is the nature of all generalizations) questionable: do “all” Koreans enjoy singing karaoke, or do the one's who don't just feel socially obligated to do so? And I've shared beverages with plenty of American friends who'd be surprised to learn that they don't consider such behavior a sign of friendship and in fact, never do it at all.
Clariel – Garth Nix
I put off reading Clariel for years. I like Sabriel so much that while I've read its sequels, I will never reread them and have tried to forget as much about them as I can, not because they were bad, but so that Sabriel can go back to being a self-contained story in my mind. As far as this prequel goes: I wish I had not waited—Clariel is amazing so far. Fantasy novels are an odd beast: for them to work for me, they really need to have the right mix of language, worldbuilding, magical systems, ambiance, and other elements, and oh, does this novel get all these elements just right.
Rebel Buddha – Dzogchen Ponlop
Yesterday, I realised I'm supposed to have this read for a book club on Saturday. Oops. There's a lot of good stuff in here so far, but Ponlop has a tendency to rephrase a single point two or three times in a paragraph. It's all very well written, but because I grasp Ponlop's points the first time around, I'd rather just move on to the next.
The Perfect Dictatorship – Stein Ringen
I think I managed about three pages this week. Still very interesting, but I just don't have the time to dig in.
What I'm Reading Next
As above.
これで以上です。
Placeholder – Placeholder
For reasons.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Original Dream – Nukila Amal
The Buddhist references are definitely intentional. I'm ¾ of the way through and it's been a bit of a mixed bag: some chapters are scintillating and some are a trek to get through. Amal has her narrator explicitly say as much, so I think this is the author demonstrating a point. Individuals and elements from opening chapters have also reappeared in ways that provide context to their initial, unexplained introductions. I'm interested to see how it all wraps up.
Journey into Mystery vol. 1 – Kieron Gillen et al.
Still amazingly good. I've really come to like the disir and am rooting for them to prevail over a certain character, and the issue with Volstagg and his children is an absolute gem.
Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans – Min Byoung-chul
Still an interesting read, although some of the generalizations are (as is the nature of all generalizations) questionable: do “all” Koreans enjoy singing karaoke, or do the one's who don't just feel socially obligated to do so? And I've shared beverages with plenty of American friends who'd be surprised to learn that they don't consider such behavior a sign of friendship and in fact, never do it at all.
Clariel – Garth Nix
I put off reading Clariel for years. I like Sabriel so much that while I've read its sequels, I will never reread them and have tried to forget as much about them as I can, not because they were bad, but so that Sabriel can go back to being a self-contained story in my mind. As far as this prequel goes: I wish I had not waited—Clariel is amazing so far. Fantasy novels are an odd beast: for them to work for me, they really need to have the right mix of language, worldbuilding, magical systems, ambiance, and other elements, and oh, does this novel get all these elements just right.
Rebel Buddha – Dzogchen Ponlop
Yesterday, I realised I'm supposed to have this read for a book club on Saturday. Oops. There's a lot of good stuff in here so far, but Ponlop has a tendency to rephrase a single point two or three times in a paragraph. It's all very well written, but because I grasp Ponlop's points the first time around, I'd rather just move on to the next.
The Perfect Dictatorship – Stein Ringen
I think I managed about three pages this week. Still very interesting, but I just don't have the time to dig in.
What I'm Reading Next
As above.
これで以上です。
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