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a_reader_is_me2009-06-03 06:11 pm
potted_music) wrote in a_reader_is_me2009-06-03 06:11 pm
44-46/150
Title: La Vie en Rose [English translation, 1 volume]
Author: Yamada Sakurako
Genre: yaoi manga
Book Number/Goal: 44/150
I liked the cover art, but the manga itself left me cold. It turned out to be a rather cliched ensemble yaoi with no conflict or characterization to speak of. (Isn't at least a modicum of characterization a prerequisite for liking a romance & caring whether these characters get together? 0.o ) All in all, nothing to write home about.
Title: Letters by Thomas Mann [Russian translation]
Author: Thomas Mann
Book Number/Goal: 45/150
TM's Doctor Faustus & Joseph and His Brothers are high on my top-10 of most favourite novels, so acquainting myself with his biography via letters made sense. They don't give any unusual insights into his writings, or his biography; if read like a novel (which I inadvertently did), they make for an interesting structure, what with the crucial events being left out, or told about waaaay later (and now I'd like to read a proper novel with a structure like that): deaths in the family, emigration, marriages only hinted at, etc.
The selection of letters (done by the Russian editor) is interesting in & of itself. As painful meditations on how German identity and national spirit =\= Nazist allegations take up the most space, this book becomes an attempt at de-demonizing the Germans (as demonizing them was the main sentiment in the Soviet Union), and as such, it deconstructs one of the core myths of the SU (the great empire protecting the world against its barbaric enemies).
Title: Cryptonomicon
Author: Neal Stephenson
Genre: historical thriller/sci-fi
Book Number/Goal: 46/150
This is easily the geekiest novel I've ever read, but it taught me a valuable lesson: never try listening to novels with a complex & fragmented structure in the audiobook format. I get easily distracted when listening to stuff, so I'm not sure whether I got everything. I mean, it even took me obscenely long to figure out that there were 2 timelines XD The snippets that stuck with me were great though. Should probably re-read it at some point.
Author: Yamada Sakurako
Genre: yaoi manga
Book Number/Goal: 44/150
I liked the cover art, but the manga itself left me cold. It turned out to be a rather cliched ensemble yaoi with no conflict or characterization to speak of. (Isn't at least a modicum of characterization a prerequisite for liking a romance & caring whether these characters get together? 0.o ) All in all, nothing to write home about.
Title: Letters by Thomas Mann [Russian translation]
Author: Thomas Mann
Book Number/Goal: 45/150
TM's Doctor Faustus & Joseph and His Brothers are high on my top-10 of most favourite novels, so acquainting myself with his biography via letters made sense. They don't give any unusual insights into his writings, or his biography; if read like a novel (which I inadvertently did), they make for an interesting structure, what with the crucial events being left out, or told about waaaay later (and now I'd like to read a proper novel with a structure like that): deaths in the family, emigration, marriages only hinted at, etc.
The selection of letters (done by the Russian editor) is interesting in & of itself. As painful meditations on how German identity and national spirit =\= Nazist allegations take up the most space, this book becomes an attempt at de-demonizing the Germans (as demonizing them was the main sentiment in the Soviet Union), and as such, it deconstructs one of the core myths of the SU (the great empire protecting the world against its barbaric enemies).
Title: Cryptonomicon
Author: Neal Stephenson
Genre: historical thriller/sci-fi
Book Number/Goal: 46/150
This is easily the geekiest novel I've ever read, but it taught me a valuable lesson: never try listening to novels with a complex & fragmented structure in the audiobook format. I get easily distracted when listening to stuff, so I'm not sure whether I got everything. I mean, it even took me obscenely long to figure out that there were 2 timelines XD The snippets that stuck with me were great though. Should probably re-read it at some point.
no subject
And just a wee note, please remember to do your author tags last name first. I'll go ahead and change these ones.
no subject
Sorry for the trouble! I'll keep that in mind!