This seems weirdly rude?Masterthes, do you just spend all of your free time reading books? And even if that's true, how do you have that much free time?
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This seems weirdly rude?Masterthes, do you just spend all of your free time reading books? And even if that's true, how do you have that much free time?
I'm an aide at a school where I work. I usually work in the Library, but we've been closed to students due to the pandemic, so I've been doing hall monitor stuff so I get a fair amount of reading done, and I really have no social life outside of work, so pretty much all I do is either read or watch stuffMasterthes, do you just spend all of your free time reading books? And even if that's true, how do you have that much free time?
I read it as jealousy, we're all readers here!This seems weirdly rude?
This is also very true. Although personally I tend to have to slow down the most for fantasy. I find the made-up place names hard to keep track of as they usually sound similar enough to real places that I get confused and have to re-read sections or flip back to remind myself what is going on. Science fiction names are usually either based on a science concept or so off the wall my brain can deal with it and move on.I'm not Masterthes, but not all writing is created equal; I can read 4-5 pages (average paperback word density) of material in a few minutes from your average fiction novel compared to 1-2 non-fiction depending on the subject. So your average fantasy or sci-fi novel I'm going to plow through in a few hours barring extremely convoluted/purple prose.
Re: Ishiguro: I haven't had time to read Klara and the Sun yet, but one thing that comes up again and again is how nice Ishiguro is as a person. People who interview him for a profile, or have him on a podcast, or worked on such-and-such an edition of his books, they all say he's just a wonderful person.Ooh, I really liked The Buried Giant, I should check this out. (And probably some of his more famous books too)
Ditto. Being in that flow state where all I want to do is read is the best feeling, but it can be really hard both to find time and get myself into that mental space.I read it as jealousy, we're all readers here!
Ooh, I'm glad you liked it! And yeah, it was just what I needed as well. Uplifting dark magical realism? I still haven't quite figured out how to explain it to someone.Speaking of, thanks for posting about The Midnight Library, VV — I just finished it and basically couldn't put it down. I really needed a book like this right now.
I started reading Piranesi and it was so crazy how the first lines were "Hello, Paul Scheible! I, Susannah Clarke, have written this book specifically for you, as I believe it will be extremely your shit."
Very strong Gormenghast vibes, and also along pretty similar tonal lines as a series of short stories I used to write about an explorer in fantastical places. At least, this is true where I am at 15~20ish pages in.
I've never read anything else by Kazuo Ishiguro so curious to try a new author.
Writing those lyrics is wonderfully random and I love it.If you end up liking the book, then I highly recommend Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. I think it's one of the best 20th-century novels written in English. His Never Let Me Go is masterful, too.
Also, Ishiguro has written the lyrics for some great songs by the U.S. jazz singer Stacey Kent. Here's one, for instance:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez? 100 Years of Solitude is one of my favourite books of all time, but Love in the Time of Cholera just didn't click for me. I should revisit it sometime.I remember watching the movie adaptation of Never Let Me Go and enjoying it. One of these days it would be nice to read it.
Right now, i'm reading Amor nos Tempos do Cólera (don't know the english title).
So now, going back to speculative fiction and giving The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell a try. I'm like 50 pages and it's written really well, but I'm wondering when good stuff is going to be occurring (with the flashback sections, anyway)