The Reader’s Nook - The N&G Book Thread

Ericj32 said:
How was Exhalation? The NYT times printed one of the stories from that back in the spring and I finally got around to reading it recently. It was the one about the prisms and branching timelines. I thought it was great, but wasn't sure if they were all at that level. It felt very similar to the story that Arrival was based on - I like how he hammers out the details of how it all works but it never feels overly technical just for the sake of nerding out - it's always directed toward heightening the dramatic tension of the ultimately human story and giving you that emotional resonance that sticks with you. It feels like he's writing more squarely for the world we actually inhabit than other sci-fi writers I've read, but I really don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to science fiction. Like, he's not conducting thought experiments, he's just bending the rules of the universe to tell the story he's trying to tell.
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I loved it, and I felt that that story was pretty indicative of the level of quality of the others. I'd put the collection on par with Stories of Your Life. The way I see it is that he thinks these ideas through so thoroughly, to the point that he can come full circle to having a real, emotional world even with these heady ideas in the mix. In the way he really gets inside and explores a concept, he reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges (although, since I wrote my thesis on Borges, I may be inclined to seeing his influence everywhere).
 
LeSamourai said:
If anyone want to be my Goodreads friend- I'm always looking for my next read!- here's my profile: Paul M.
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I'm going to add you! I've just had a crazy last few days. But for your next book, I really highly recommend The Known World, which @sorcerer recommended to me. Or Middlegame, which I just finished.

They are very different. But both very epic and well written. The Known World follows a black family that owns slaves in the middle of nowhere Virginia in the 1800s. Middlegame is more fantasy/time travelly but also not hugely about that. More about relationships and ethics. You read a lot, like I do (although I come nowhere close to you). These books are long and held my attention.

I will give a slight trigger warning about Middlegame. This does not give anything away and the author has been very clear that she doesn't think this is a spoiler. I think she said something like, if revealing this ruins the book for you, then I've failed as an author.

There is a suicide attempt. It isn't described graphically at all. But not to diminish that it may be triggering for some.
 
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Teeeee said:
And actually - anyone else on Goodreads! I didn't mean to exclude. I was chatting about it with tyr and bfly in JQBX so that is the only reason I specifically @'ed them. I'd love more friends!
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LeSamourai said:
If anyone want to be my Goodreads friend- I'm always looking for my next read!- here's my profile: Paul M.
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Added you both, as well as @Tyr. Hope that's alright!
 
Teeeee said:
Of course! I'm very very new to GR. I'm talking 3 days old. So, forgive the lack of reviews. Just getting acclimated to it.
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Haha, I rarely review either! Usually by the time I've really formulated an opinion on a book I've finished I've already moved on to something else. But it's fun to see what others are reading and what they like.
 
Just finished The Handmaid's Tale for the first time (was supposed to read it in 1st year 20th-century lit.--oops). Incredible. My question is: how disappointing is The Testaments, really, and is it worthwhile or no?
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Just finished The Handmaid's Tale for the first time (was supposed to read it in 1st year 20th-century lit.--oops). Incredible. My question is: how disappointing is The Testaments, really, and is it worthwhile or no?
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The Handmaid's Tale is my favorite book. I've read it several times. It's so scary.

I haven't read The Testaments yet because of the disappointment fear. But I believe @Bennnnn read it and said it was good! I have it on hold at my library, it says my wait is now 6 weeks. Lol.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Just finished The Handmaid's Tale for the first time (was supposed to read it in 1st year 20th-century lit.--oops). Incredible. My question is: how disappointing is The Testaments, really, and is it worthwhile or no?
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Teeeee said:
The Handmaid's Tale is my favorite book. I've read it several times. It's so scary.

I haven't read The Testaments yet because of the disappointment fear. But I believe @Bennnnn read it and said it was good! I have it on hold at my library, it says my wait is now 6 weeks. Lol.
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I liked it quite a bit. It's very engaging. Although if the style of The Handmaid's Tale is what you love about it, The Testaments may disappoint. It's not quite on the same level in that sense. But the narrative drives forward really well.
 
I just finished The Memory Police. There were some things about it that were confusing and I'm not sure if it was because of the story or the translation (the translation was excellent over all, there were just some minor continuity things which make me wonder if Ogawa had meant to use a different word. I studied Japanese translation in school so this is probably something only I would care about). Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and thought it was pretty creepy. I was really in the mood for a good Orwellian dystopia lately and it delivered.

I also just started Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch and I think my next fiction book will be The Picture of Dorian Grey.
 
I'm only halfway through, but I'm reading Kentukis by Samanta Schweblin right now, and it's like a great, quietly disturbing episode of Black Mirror. It's about cute, little, mobile Furby-like robot pets that are all controlled by random strangers on the internet from all over the world. So, some people decide to get the "pets," and others decide to be the "pets." It's exploring a lot of the connection, isolation, voyeurism, and other things that happen on the internet.

It looks like the English translation will be called Little Eyes, and is coming some time next year. I've really liked (if by like you mean been rather freaked out by) her other novel (Fever Dream) and her short stories.
 
LeSamourai said:
Because Internet is a good read, and as a fellow language person (I teach a foreign language for a job) with an interest in linguistics, I highly recommend it.
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Yeah, I have my MA in linguistics, though I'm a phonetician/phonologist so I mainly deal with sounds. I've only read the intro so far but it sounds like it's going to be something I'm really going to enjoy.
 
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