Suggest not starting with the very first Discworld books - it took him a little while to move from parody fantasy to stories that involved characters you could take an interest in. You quite often get a sense that Pratchett had spent time in the company of engineers - became increasingly overt as he got older but quite a lot of “Thief of time” could easily have been subtitled “Trouble in’t turbine hall”
Time for some catch-up. 2 entries today:
First: The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (TCMC)
I had been avoiding this one for some time now. The reason for that being, I rad The Three Musketeers by Dumas years ago and absolutely hated it. However, I was urged repeatedly by my wife to read TCMC because she loved it when she read it a few months prior. I have to say, it was very good. Much…MUCH better than the Three Musketeers was.
Edmond Dantes was a likable, and relatable protagonist and the unfolding of the story was excellent. It makes sense now why this is such a revered story. So I approached it resigned that I might hate it, but was pleased to pick it up each day.
Second: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
First, I loved the Gulliver’s Travels story since I was a little kid and I watched some miniseries on TV with my father. That being said, I had tried several times to read the book and failed to go from beginning to end in any attempt prior to this. This time I did and I was happy I did it.
Swift can be wordy to say the least. So there were times where my speed reading took over as a necessity to not grind my teeth to dust while trying to get to the point. But that was intermittent. Some chapters were good reading for me and I followed every word. Others though, I had to skim and skip big sections just to decipher that he was saying English people suck.
Overall I did like it though and I am glad I can finally put it down as being read. I likely wouldn’t read it again, but the story is fun and funny and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes “olde timey” British wit at the expense of the English.
Wanted to jump in here and share about the book club my engineering lab just started! I’m a PhD student and my lab studies design processes and engineering education. We wanted to read stuff other than the hundreds of academic articles we read every year, so we’re bringing in books that are important to us but not strictly ‘academic.’ So for my background in disability justice and inclusive design, I’m proposing books like Disability Visibility by Alice Wong. Our work is super intersectional so we are thinking of reading from Roxane Gay (who did her dissertation on engineering technical communication, although she’s most known for her feminist writings) and other Black writers like Angela Davis and Audre Lorde. It’s so important as engineering PhD students to feel inspired while we are trekking through the many years of incremental research, and reading outside of our fields helps a lot with that.
Our first book is Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire, proposed by my colleague who studies how engineering design can be a tool of activism.
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Update:
based on the recommended books from Avscorreia, I chose (somewhat randomly) to try 1Q84. I’m not done yet but I finally see where it’s going.
I have to say, the beginning of 1Q84 is pretty crass, to the point of off-putting. If I were to judge the book by the first 1/3 alone I would trash it as juvenile. At the 2/3 point, I still do not like the male lead character. The plot is definitely original, and the female lead character is intelligent and active in her fate. These two the only reasons I’m sticking with it.
The author (Murakami) may believe that he is writing to a naive audience, or one with very little imagination, so he spends an excessive amount of time on explanations. Unfortunately that leaves me with a tremendous impatience for him to get on with the story rather than re-explaining things for the 5th time, that I already got the first time. It is also mostly unnecessary, because only readers of sci-fi are likely to get through the first part of the book, and they won’t need the hand-holding. The first part must be a pretty effective barrier to many literary-minded and literal-minded readers.
What’s worse, at times Murakami spends so much time elaborating on details that he reveals that he hasn’t really thought about them, or neglects that the characters have knowledge that they would naturally use to understand the events that happen to them. The author misses the fact that his characters (particularly the male lead, but others) would be expected to notice things in their field of knowledge, or already know things (a mathematician would know that all planets have orbits) that would inform their reactions to the environment, even as it changes, even as events become fantastic. The female leads actually does this with aplomb, but the others don’t even try.
Overall, one very strong main character in a challenging circumstance, surrounded by losers, zealots, and extremophiles.
I guess you loved it, then! 
This one will be short for I guess all the right reasons.
“Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry
I have a hard time really describing this book. I really enjoyed picking it up to read each day. I can’t say for sure why, other than I think it was a really terrifically written book. The story was compelling, even though it seemed to just meander and roll along. I guess the story just felt natural and real. It is a character driven story if there ever was one. I think all of the characters (both major and minor) are incredibly well developed without a lot of tedious character development done by McMurtry. They all felt real, so it was easy for me to understand them in all of their simplicity and complexity in just a few words.
A+++. Definitely recommend to anyone who might be on the fence or may have never even heard of it.
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Thanks for the memories.
I read that a long time ago.
I am going to start looking for a copy and it will be next on my rereading list.
I have forgotten so many details that I will enjoy a second read.
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I expect I will reread this book many times during my life. I might try to get into the prequels (sequels?) at some point, but I’ve got others on my docket at the moment, so it’ll have to wait for now.
I like Westerns, so I’m going to see if our library has “Lonesome Dove” next time I’m in there.
I think the only book I have consistently reread over my life, about every decade, is “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love that book!
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Hmm…may have to see if I can pick that up as a download (ebook) from the local library…thanks for the suggestion, SS.
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Quick turnaround because I was already about halfway through this one when I put it down to read Lonesome Dove.
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I get that it is good and extremely poetic, but personally it did nothing for me.
I was mostly confused with the myriad of characters with similar names. The book jumps between timelines and events with no real pretext. The level of metaphor, innuendo, and symbolism is so high, it just went over my head while I tried to just keep the characters straight.
I can see why it is celebrated. It just isn’t the kind of story I’m looking for. It sort of reminds me of The Divine Comedy. So if you are into that sort of thing, this might be the book for you. If you aren’t I’d avoid it.
When I read it the first time, more than 20 years ago, my copy of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” had a family tree on the final pages. Something like this:
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I just read through one of my favorites, “The Hobbit” by Tolkien.
I’m going to assume most people know this book already. If you don’t, I won’t even describe it other than to say, you should read it.
It is such a fantastic piece of literature, and I always have a wonderful experience each time I read it.
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“The Coldest Winter Ever” by Sister Souljah
A very entertaining book. It was an odd experience, and my wife said pretty much the same thing after she read it. I did not like any of the characters. The whole time I’m saying to myself “Why would you do that?”, “Stop making these decisions!”, etc., but at the same time I was emotionally invested. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and I wanted to learn the fate of the characters. I kept hoping for things to work out for them even though they kinda sucked the whole time.
I don’t know that it would be for everyone, but I would recommend giving it a try to anyone who might’ve heard of it, but wasn’t sure about picking it up.
Please don’t mistake this for validation seeking, but I’d like to know if people find this content interesting, annoying, or more like a distraction from the site’s truer content.
Don’t worry about hurting my feelings if it isn’t desirable going forward, my skin is plenty tough. I just want to make sure I’m not ruffling everyone’s feathers every time I make a post here.
Are these book “revews” good, bad, or distracting from SE?
- Good / Interesting
- Bad / Annoying
- Distracting
0 voters
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Keep them coming!
Agree, this is in the right place, and is certainly doing no harm.
Are you kidding? I’ve even taken one book recommendation to try out (didn’t like it, but that’s not the point).
Oh, and currently, I’m taking in Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon on audiobook.
VERY GOOD.
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“World of Wonders” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
This book was interesting, but overall I wouldn’t say I loved it. Fairly short and sweet, though, so it wouldn’t be much investment for anyone who might be interested.
She is a poet and it is written well, but the commentary just seemed a little stale to me. I felt like she kept skimming the surface of the same topics over and over again, while trying to create a relation to the various animals and plants being highlighted in each chapter.
So I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’ read it, I wouldn’t say you are missing much, but it could be a fun and nice read too. The artwork is very nice at least.