Xander ,'Dirty Girls'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
And the tangets are skimmable, erika. Think of reading it 15 chapters a week (the chapters are super short) and you'll finish quickly enough (like in two months).
The thing that most surprised me was how funny parts of it are. But, it's true, I'm a bit bogged down in whale trivia.
It's much easier to read, even unassisted, then I found Don Quixote or The Divine Comedy were with assistance.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Laundau-Banks
meara, I loved this book, even though it was extremely depressing. And because of it, my students read Panopticon before they read Handmaid's Tale.
The thing that most surprised me was how funny parts of it are.
Yup. That was quite a shock to me, to be amused by this Big Important Book.
The flip side to that is I had expected Don Quixote to be funny and it simply wasn't. It was the equivalent of watch from the hall. That book just made me so angry and so sad.
I'll just stake my claim here on, The Point of the Tangents: What Melville wants to do is immerse you as deeply into the world and culture of whaling as he experienced it. So that the metaphors of whaling have a deeper resonance. What it all means to you is roughly what it would mean to a whaler of that era. The facts, the industrial grind of it, the lore all factor in.
Why is this important? Melville exploits one of the distinguishing traits of the novel - it's length. And one of the things you can do with that length is convey a great depth of knowledge. And he leverages that to make the story payoff in a way that a shorter story can't.
It's not unlike the Long Con narrative strategy used by Simon. There's much immersion so that the action rings louder. With Simon you know how the drug business works, so you understand what ever gesture and betrayal really means.
Plus, in Moby Dick there's all kinds of slash and Ahab is AWESOME and the action scenes at the end are thrilling. Plus also he throws a random play into the middle of it. With lots of rich, Shakespearean language.
I only made 250 pages until it was due back at the library. It was okay, but I can see how it would get very repetitive. I'll finish it for my quest book.
ETA: Don Quixote. Not Moby Dick. 'Cause Moby Dick is awesomecakes.
So I'm probably going to re-read it after I read "Catching Fire". Much looking forward to that. Loved it. SO awesome.
I liked it, but not as much as The Hunger Games. I felt it was more of a placeholder in the trilogy, setting up the final novel and not a complete story unto itself.
Moby Dick is David Simon's favorite novel
I share this with the man. Plus The Wild Bunch. And yet I doubt I could converse intelligently with the guy.
I liked it, but not as much as The Hunger Games. I felt it was more of a placeholder in the trilogy, setting up the final novel and not a complete story unto itself.
Ooh, dang. Cause I loved Hunger Games. Is the third one out yet? Or announced? I should go look for that so I'm on the library list ASAP even if it isn't...
I think it is September. It's not in the SF library catalog yet.