jonn replied to Laura Lemay's status
@lemay wouldn't it be Joycean?
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56% complete! jonn has read 30 of 53 books.
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@tivasyk Is it from the 50's? Or perhaps the title refers to the author?
jonn finished reading The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next, #7)
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next, #7)
The Bookworld's leading enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into semiretirement following an assassination attempt. When Thursday's former SpecOps …
jonn reviewed The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next, #7)
The Bookworld's leading enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into semiretirement following an assassination …
Removes any questions if Fforde is a communist.
5 stars
And yet, a five star from me.
Is he naive and too fascinated by russia? Yes, but so are most westerners.
Can I certainly say that he read das kapital / communist manifesto? No. But then again, even those who did in the west don't have a lived experience of communism, so I empathise with them falling for barely grounded populism.
And even yet it's a great book! Perhaps the best in the series. It's weird at every corner, includes scrupulous worldbuilding and a ton of calculations. And while we may have the opposite ideas about marxism, we do share unapologetic and relentless sense of anticapitalism. Which, under western labels makes me an intersectional communist, I guess, but western labels can sod off!
Anyway, the book is FUN. The characters are WEIRD. Fforde is an amazing writer.
If you crave Douglas Adams, but ran out, and don't want to make …
And yet, a five star from me.
Is he naive and too fascinated by russia? Yes, but so are most westerners.
Can I certainly say that he read das kapital / communist manifesto? No. But then again, even those who did in the west don't have a lived experience of communism, so I empathise with them falling for barely grounded populism.
And even yet it's a great book! Perhaps the best in the series. It's weird at every corner, includes scrupulous worldbuilding and a ton of calculations. And while we may have the opposite ideas about marxism, we do share unapologetic and relentless sense of anticapitalism. Which, under western labels makes me an intersectional communist, I guess, but western labels can sod off!
Anyway, the book is FUN. The characters are WEIRD. Fforde is an amazing writer.
If you crave Douglas Adams, but ran out, and don't want to make a run to the book store, you can always rely on Fforde to deliver!
jonn replied to Eduardo Santiago's status
@esm Yea, but the story felt bulletproof in this one, motivations consistent, a lot of subtle stuff and math jokes (like buying books vs paying Michelin chef).
Actually around the budgeting bit and msnchild bit, I was cognizant of how much calculations are required to write stuff like this. It's antithetical to "autopilot writing".
jonn reviewed One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (Thursday next novel)
It is a time of unrest in the BookWorld. Only the diplomatic skills of ace …
It's like watching season 3 of Arrested Development but where the only storyline is the Iraq one
4 stars
A couple of amazing passages here.
Sadly, my lifestyle doesn't let me carefully review the books at the moment.
I loved Thursday's companion and "psychological thriller" nature of the book.
Was torn between 3.5 and 4, certainly the weakest of the series so far.
jonn replied to juandewyrm@bookwyrm.tech's status
@juandewyrm@bookwyrm.tech umm bookwyrm.social/book/5990/s/piranesi 🤫
You reviewed the wrong book. 🙂
jonn wants to read A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #1)
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en …
jonn commented on Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities …
AS YOU DEPART FROM CHLOE, you know deeper than skin and deeper than heart, that the collection of momentary glances or that train which passed right in front of your face, altogether only promising to suck you into the thin air, lacking a slightest chance to do so, shift the plates of your soul more than an hours-long conversation with a friend or an enemy in a bowl of sugar floss whiped by streams of air.
jonn started reading Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but …
jonn quoted Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities …
You do not come to Euphemia only to buy and sell, but also because at night, by the fires all around the market, seated on sacks or barrels or stretched out on piles of carpets, at each word that one man says – such as “wolf,” “sister,”“hidden treasure,” “battle,” “scabies,” “lovers” – the others tell, each one, his tale of wolves, sisters, treasures, scabies, lovers, battles. And you know that in the long journey ahead of you, when to keep awake against the camel’s swaying or the junk’s rocking, you start summoning up your memories one by one, your wolf will have become another wolf, your sister a different sister, your battle other battles, on your return from Euphemia, the city where memory is traded at every solstice and at every equinox.
jonn wants to read Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum
Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls …