Which book are you reading now? Volume XI

[Kyriakos]

At first, overall confusion. The process of his trial, how it evolves up to the very (abrupt) end was masterfully done imo. I talked to Kyriakos about it and he sold me his view, I combined it with mine, and here is pretty much what I got out of it:

The two main themes that are represented throughout not only the book, but also Kafkas body of work, are authority and bureaucracy. The protagonist starts out very aloof, slightly upset, but seems not at all threatened by his trial. As time goes on however it creeps into every corner of his private life: His romantic affairs, his work, his relationship with his houskeeper and so forth. K. becomes more paranoid, mentally and physically weaker, until the ned where he basically willingly subjugates.

Authority is portrayed as something that is not really acquired through achievement, intellect, hard work, but rather more or less arbitrarily divided under an elite-group of ruling men, hence them often being portrayed is completely incapable. It is a destructive power, only available to few, who almost live in a parallel society, remember for example the way the courtrooms were set up: Almost impossible to reach, in remote areas, hidden, full of thick smoke, make people feel physically uneasy and so forth.

Bureaucracy is in this case the essential tool of the person in power, it makes them almost untouchable. The painter tells K. that there are realistically only 3 ways for him to tackle his case: The real absolution (nigh impossible), the seeming absolution (not satisfactory) and dragging the process on for as long as possible. As we get to see later on, K. defies all these three bureaucratic ways and picks the easiest option, which is death. Bureaucracy is also a tool for dehumanization, allowing each person to be treated as a case.

Since I read it in German, I can say that the prose is very nice, although even as a Kafka fanboy I will admit that he is too lengthy at times. Sometimes these lengthy parts convey absolutely essential information, but sometimes they don't. I like his thick, descriptive, exact prose, he makes great use of the German language. I like the way he develops characters and how dynamic his books feel. What are your thoughts on this book? I can't think right now, got a lot of stuff going on, so sorry for my confused answer.

Blok, the merchant, probably presented K. with a gloomy image of what he would too become in time. That said, he only dismisses Blok when the latter readily sacrifices K. in hope to look better in front of the councilor; and K. already disliked the councilor and had made himself his antagonist for the girl working there too.
And while that girl has some kind of membrane joining two of her fingers, she probably still looks a lot better than Kafka's actual affairs

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Which is very strange, because one of his lovers was literally named "Dora Diamond", a name can hardly get more pornstar-ish, yet she looked like a Russian cleaning lady in her mid-50s, and that's being generous

 

[Kyriakos]

Which is very strange, because one of his lovers was literally named "Dora Diamond", a name can hardly get more pornstar-ish, yet she looked like a Russian cleaning lady in her mid-50s, and that's being generous

Yes.

Compare with F. Kafka, in this pic from the sanatorium: (she is the rightmost figure in the lower row).
Also Felice Bauer, who in most of her pics looks like Oscar Wilde

No wonder he was miserable, with his BDD and all the rest.

 

[Snerk]

The Great Gatsby. Figured it was time I'd get around to it. Although it's not all that tbh.

 

[Kyriakos]

^One of the most boring plots in a novel, old sport.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Syria A History of the Last Hundred Years by John McHugo is your typical contemporary general history. It seems determined to portray all aggressive Syrian actions toward Israel as not its fault. The 1948 attack is framed as a humanitarian intervention, while the 1973 attack is equated to Israel's preemptive strike in 1967. It's rather distracting, honestly.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Harlan Ellison's original teleplay for "The City on the Edge of Forever", with a very grumpy introduction beforehand.

 

[Snerk]

Jumped on the bandwagon and started 1984 by Orwell. I was under the impression that it was somewhat dry and boring, but I'm enjoying it.

 

[Takhisis]

Read Huxley's Brave New World and then see which one we are really in.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Read Huxley's Brave New World and then see which one we are really in.

Neither, but at least America seems to be on the right track to become a generic, somewhat stereotypical cyberpunk setting with really lame versions of the cool technology by 2020.

Can anyone recommend a good and original fantasy novel/series that has magic stuff but doesn't overdo it and has a good idealism-cynicism balance ?

 

[Arakhor]

I just finished reading the Imperial trilogy by Mark Robson, consisting of Imperial Spy, Imperial Assassin and Imperial Traitor. It's technically a Young Adult series, but I found it to be a fairly gripping 1,000 pages of low-magic intrigue in a fantasy (possibly Renaissance?) world, with a female protagonist to boot.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I just finished reading the Imperial trilogy by Mark Robson, consisting of Imperial Spy, Imperial Assassin and Imperial Traitor. It's technically a Young Adult series, but I found it to be a fairly gripping 1,000 pages of low-magic intrigue in a fantasy (possibly Renaissance?) world, with a female protagonist to boot.

Don't push that SJW agenda on me . This is why Trump won.

In seriousness, I might check it out. Low-magic is good. I only got into Fantasy after ASoIaF and too much Fantasy fiction is either too derivative or bombards you with unknown concepts and made up words from the beginning.

 

[Kyriakos]

Lovecraft - letters
Kafka - diaries
Poe - crap

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I'm slowly reading through Ziggyology: A Brief History of Ziggy Stardust by Simon Goddard. It's strange, it's not quite a biography in that everything has a science fiction hint to it, with the biography beginning with the death of Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon, then going back in time to the Babylonians with their Ziggurats and briefly going through history. It doesn't get to the birth of David Bowie until page 59.

 

[Arakhor]

In seriousness, I might check it out. Low-magic is good. I only got into Fantasy after ASoIaF and too much Fantasy fiction is either too derivative or bombards you with unknown concepts and made up words from the beginning.

Magic is basically an informed attribute in the first book, as there are plot shenanigans caused by a dead sorcerer, but magic doesn't actually make an active appearance until the second book. I'd peg the cultural development at about 16th or 17th Century Europe, but with no apparent gunpowder technology. It's also probably monotheistic and human-only, which is fairly unusual for fantasy series.

 

[Zkribbler]

Jumped on the bandwagon and started 1984 by Orwell. I was under the impression that it was somewhat dry and boring, but I'm enjoying it.

If you think the book is dry and boring, try the movie. It's awful. Even the nude scenes are boring.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space

So far it has included the Trojan War, the Pyramids, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and...the suffrage movement?

 

[Takhisis]

Neither, but at least America seems to be on the right track to become a generic, somewhat stereotypical cyberpunk setting with really lame versions of the cool technology by 2020.

Well, civ ends in 2020 anyway.

Can anyone recommend a good and original fantasy novel/series that has magic stuff but doesn't overdo it and has a good idealism-cynicism balance ?

In a year or maybe two I'll have finished writing. Can you wait that long, or do you want me to recommend from among currently existing literature?

If you think the book is dry and boring, try the movie. It's awful. Even the nude scenes are boring.

That's how it's supposed to be mmkay

 

[Camikaze]

I recently read Comrades by Robert Service, and have just finished The Tragedy of Liberation by Frank Dikotter, starting now on its more famous sequel Mao's Great Famine. They are good reads from a narrative perspective, but I'm kinda curious what the general opinion of them is? Service seems quite cold warrior-ish, and Dikotter strikes me as unremittingly anti-socialist, though whether that's a cause or product of his work is harder to tell. In the intro to Mao's Great Famine, for instance, there's an aside about how the failures of the Great Leap Forward should speak to contemporary debates about government intervention solving social problems.

I assume that for the most part the factual material presented in the books is accurate, and I'm not bound to slavishly adopt the interpretation of those facts, so I'm quite happy with the books.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Beyond Earth

It's a book on space colonization. The author's are pro-Titan colonization which is definitely an interesting perspective. I had never really thought about the implications of what living on Titan would be like so I that's neat.

I don't really like the format, however. The author's seem intent on proving some sort of nebulous thesis on how people will leave Earth because it will descend into slow motion ecological and social disaster. I don't really have a bone to pick with that argument even if I don't subscribe to it but I do have a bone to pick with their narrative. Half the book is in the present and is fact/interview based while the other half is this weird sort of science fiction. That fiction part is sort of awful and weighs the book down.


I got to the very end of Ringworld (audio book version) when the software I used decided to erase the file. I'm kind of bummed about that and I think I'll just look up the synopsis because I don't want to pay for it again.