For those who follow Christian science-fiction, Kathy Tyer's Firebird series is out again, and will be followed up with a couple new books. I've been...moreFor those who follow Christian science-fiction, Kathy Tyer's Firebird series is out again, and will be followed up with a couple new books. I've been slowly rereading the whole thing (pretty busy these days, so not done yet!!), so maybe more to come about this.
A vampire novel which explore race and gender, by one of the great "literary" sci-fi writers. The last of her novels, sadly-- she died shortly after t...moreA vampire novel which explore race and gender, by one of the great "literary" sci-fi writers. The last of her novels, sadly-- she died shortly after this was published. Very interesting so far. I love books that don't read like every other book in the genre (hard to find in sci-fi and fantasy). (less)
I'm really looking forward to finally reading something by Breuggemann again-- he seems to be a quality scholar, at the same time that he is passionat...moreI'm really looking forward to finally reading something by Breuggemann again-- he seems to be a quality scholar, at the same time that he is passionate about his subject. While he and NT Wright seem to disagree on some particular points at least, I find them to be very complementary-- I think my own theological thought (not that I'm ever very systematic about it-- but then again, I don't think either of them would be considered a systematic theologian) these days is largely the product of the bits and pieces I've gotten from these two scholars. Having gone to a Christian high school and grown up in a church and having done confirmation, I've got the basics of systematic theology-- I definitely prefer Wright and Breuggemann, though, or anything that is more about encountering a text and trying to deal with it on its own terms, rather than trying to build a final, perfect box that everything will fit in. Haha, well, not to turn this into an all out criticism of systematic theology-- fans of Wright and Breuggemann may be tempted to do so, but we all build boxes as part of our engagement with the world. It's more a matter of not elevating the boxes to something foundational.
OK, anyway, looking forward to this book. :)(less)
[Edit: You might want to check out my blog post about Gene Wolfe's Wizard-Knight duology. I mention this book there, and got some good comments about...more[Edit: You might want to check out my blog post about Gene Wolfe's Wizard-Knight duology. I mention this book there, and got some good comments about this book and the others from another fan. http://vikingsbooksetc.wordpress.com/... ]
Actually finished this over a month ago, along with a few other books, but with illness and teaching and other things I just haven't been able to get things posted on goodreads lately. Not much time now, but I will say that this book feels very similar to the Wizard-Knight duology. It is very difficult not to conflate the perceived innocent naïveté of the narrator with the author- or rather, the book just feels "clean" and straightforward b/c it is so easy to perceive the narrator in that way. Never mind that he confesses to many things that a not exactly shining examples of virtue, though I will also say that we seem to be invited to learn, with the narrator, to tolerate the sins and failings of others through our acceptance of our own fallenness. The plot is... Hard to describe. Straightforward first person pirate story, except in this wonderful voice , again comparable to that of the Wizard Knight, and except for the twist at the end which may be a bit abrupt for some people (like the end of a Miyazaki film), but which is also, in retrospect, that which undergirds the entire narration and so "fits" despite the abruptness of the revelation. Well, hope I articulated that alright. Hard to do this in a hurry. Overall, feels simple on one level, but open to various levels of reading and rereading. This and Wizard Knight are so different from the other Wolfe books I've read- well, there are strong points of contact, but Fifth Head of Cerberus is certainly a little more daunting from start to finish, however complex the deeper levels of each of these works.
Original review below.
Got this book for my pirate loving little sister, and decided to buy a copy for myself too (I almost kept her present, actually). I won't guarantee everyone will like it, but I'm a fan of Gene Wolfe and really wanted to read this. I haven't read too much of his-- most of the Book of the New Sun, the Wizard Knight duology, Fifth Head of Cerberus, and some of his short fiction. Out of all these, I feel like Wizard Knight has most in common with Pirate Freedom-- both have a first person narrator with a very plain, naive-feeling voice (not sure naive is the best way to put it-- and in any case, it at times feels like a duplicitous plainness, though maybe that's me being suspicious b/c of what I've heard about Wolfe's writing), writing a letter to explain what has happened to them to someone else. Wolfe is known for using unreliable narrators-- in these books, that seems to manifest itself in how things are told and what is told, rather than any far reaching duplicity-- at least that's in my reading so far, and I do feel like I'm probably missing something (Fifth Head of Cerberus has a much more extreme bit of duplicity, where one narrator is apparently a shapechanger who believes he is the human whose shape he has taken). Certain things which would take up a lot of room as action-oriented scenes are glossed over in this book, and the narrator often insists that he can't remember certain bits, but other bits are very clear-- whether these count as "unreliable narration" I don't know, but they certainly bring the perspective of the narrator, with all its limitations and biases, to the forefront, rather than taking the idea of the narrator as a barely acknowledged conceit to justify our access to the story-- in other words, the narrator is understood as a real character in the frame narrative. That said, the story doesn't drown in a reflexive focus on the one telling the story, and, with Wizard Knight, this is the Gene Wolfe book I would most recommend to more casual or escapist sci-fi/fantasy readers. Well, you may not like it still-- I think "good" or "productive" books (or "transformative") tend to subvert our escapist tendencies to some degree (see CS Lewis' -Experiment in Criticism- for one take on this phenomenon)-- but still, I think most people will enjoy this, even if Wolfe's books tend to take multiple readings to drain every last drop out of them.
One note about the title-- early in the book the narrator equates Freedom with Money/Gold, so that the title might be interpreted "Pirate Gold"-- a much more standard, swashbuckling title. Considering Wolfe's reputation as a subtle and thoughtful writer, I'm inclined to take this as intentional. At the very least, "Pirate Freedom" is a bit of an odd title, and I'm assuming that the topic/problem of "freedom" will be very pertinent in understanding the book.
I've got to say, this book feels like a perfect one to teach in a Reading and Composition course-- it is a good length, it is fairly accessible, but there is a lot going on and it provides a great opportunity to discuss narratological levels (at the very least the distinction author/narrator/character) etc. I'm always stuck teaching Medieval lit, b/c, oddly enough, it seems easier for the students to figure out what the conditions for an adequate thesis are when they are exploring multiple texts within a relatively alien culture. But if I were to teach the A level again, with no research requirement, I would be tempted to teach a broader range of texts, including this one-- maybe with the overall topic of "Adventure Stories", which would let me cover some sagas, maybe Bernard Foye's Third Castling, and some things by Astrid Lindgren, to cover the Scandinavian side of things, plus some non-Scandi books like... Pirate Freedom. And others-- maybe Treasure Island, to give an earlier pirate story (and of course, any saga that has a lot of Vikings would technically be about Pirates too). The Hobbit would fit this category too.
[Note-- this last part below is a bit of an unfair rant, due to some issues I was dealing with in the Reading and Comp class I was teaching-- if someone doesn't like how a narratological conceit is executed, then they have a perfect right to dislike a book. Ah well.]
I'm looking over other people's reviews of this book-- it seems like the bad reviews are upset over the "writing", meaning, the voice of the narrator-- I think the point would be that the awkward way in which the narrator narrates, or represents himself, is PART of the story. The narrator has his own agenda, and it is because of THAT that all the women are the same character (one person calls the book misogynist)-- b/c for him, they ARE. In other words, it feels like the critiques of the writing are conflating "real author" with "narrator" and blaming Gene Wolfe for what his character says. And I have to admit, this is the sort of problem students have in my R&C courses a lot-- for some reason I just could NOT get some of my students to understand that they were supposed to write about the characters in the story as representations of people, not as REAL people-- you don't treat Beowulf on his own terms as a real person, dammit, you treat him as part of a text with an agenda of its own. One student even talked about Beowulf as the author of the poem. Blegh. >:[(less)
Bought a copy of this a few years back, but have never gotten around to reading it. Actually... I'm not sure I've read anything of hers yet. This is a...moreBought a copy of this a few years back, but have never gotten around to reading it. Actually... I'm not sure I've read anything of hers yet. This is a very fun and interesting little book so far-- I think we would call this Magical Realism, if the point of MR is that there seems to be a magical element, but you aren't completely certain whether there really is anything magical going on. Been a while since I've heard a definition tho, so whatever. Just my kind of book, in any case-- otherworldly and lots of nature, plus just plain unusual and interesting. I'm enjoying the prose.(less)
Slowly working my way through this, but enjoying it immensely. The first section has several chapters outlining the history of science fiction, and ea...moreSlowly working my way through this, but enjoying it immensely. The first section has several chapters outlining the history of science fiction, and each chapter seems to succeed fairly well at both covering the essentials and providing a nuanced and sophisticated theoretical treatment. Now I'm working through the sections on theory-- have read on Marxism in Sci Fi and Feminism in sci fi so far-- both fairly short, easy to read, and pretty decent scholarship (for such a brief overview). If I ever have an opportunity to teach a course on the subject, I will certainly use this book.(less)
Gosh, can't believe I hadn't reviewed this yet- we finished this several months ago for my sci-fi group. The general consensus was that it was ambitio...moreGosh, can't believe I hadn't reviewed this yet- we finished this several months ago for my sci-fi group. The general consensus was that it was ambitious and interesting, but awkward in the way it switched from a meditation of the simultaneous beauty and horror of the City to a supernatural thriller. Well, I think the whole book can still be taken together to communicate a sense of the complicity of ALL of the populace in this beauty/horror, but I can understand people's disappointment. Still, I am interested in eventually returning to this, and in reading more if Mieville's work.
Original post below.
This is on the list for January for my sci-fi group-- really looking forward to it. Mieville sounds really interesting, and I'm expecting this book to be a really interesting combo of steam-punk, fantasy, and the idea of the City (which has been hip in lit crit for a while now-- alas, I have not read much of it...)
Also makes me want to revisit Mark Helprin's -A Winter's Tale-, which is also very much about the city, and pretty steam-punkish in its take on an alternate history of New York (though I thought of it as more of a magic-realism or very surreal alternate history when I first read it). (less)
I was surprised to find this book named in a list of Danish science-fiction books, or at least books which touch on the genre-- though I guess the clo...moreI was surprised to find this book named in a list of Danish science-fiction books, or at least books which touch on the genre-- though I guess the closest it gets to that only comes in a revelation at the end (don't know what that is yet). In any case, it looks interesting so far!(less)
**spoiler alert** Wah!!! You know it's a good book when you get to the end and you start laughing-- not at something funny, but at the disappointment...more**spoiler alert** Wah!!! You know it's a good book when you get to the end and you start laughing-- not at something funny, but at the disappointment which you knew was coming, because the book was obviously promising a revelation beyond the ability of a human to give, and yet you were so sucked in that you couldn't help hoping that the revelation would come! I think the final chapter also succeeds very well in conflating Narrator with Author-- despite the author's warnings that the final section would be fictional, I lost that distinction as I was drawn into the final portion, and the laughter at the end is at least in part due to the breaking of that spell, as the experience abruptly and prematurely ends and we are suddenly dumped into a very "real" postscript thanking those who contributed to this book, and listing the previous places these chapters had been published.
The final portion of the book is traditional sci-fi-- as in fictional and speculative-- but also serves as an appropriate final chapter of this book (for my original review and the description of the rest of the book, see below). Continues the theme of putting the human perspective into a cosmic perspective, but here by postulating a post-human distant future, where the universe has chilled to a point where it can't sustain biological life, but where all we know of the history of universe only proves to be the prelude to something else. But I have to complain that Nilson seems preoccupied with "reality" as being a Platonic realm of pure mathematics-- I may not be qualified to comment on this, not being a mathematician myself, but from the sorts of philosophy I am familiar with (incl. phenomenology, which starts with a treatise on arithmetic and the nature of numbers-- but I'll admit, I haven't read enough of this stuff to judge...), I wonder if it is more "true" to see math as a particularly refined mode of engagement with the world-- well, I still haven't finished with Heidegger and others, but I suppose one could also just say that what you consider the "foundation" depends on the problem you pose. And the experience of discovery and the weeding out of imperfect theorems is so foundational (there's that word again) to the "act" of science (=the physical sciences) that I don't think you (meaning someone engaged in that project) can avoid understanding that act as the uncovering of "reality"-- but should that be reified as another "world" behind our own? That doesn't feel quite right to me, but again, I'm not a scientist myself. At any rate, a very mind-bending book, maybe very typical of SF literature, but of the best of that literature.
Original review follows:
I bought this in a volume of three of Nilson's books (also incl. Solvindar and Rymdljus) nearly a decade ago after having it recommended as Swedish science fiction-- so far this first book is not science fiction, but rather a very poetic essay on the universe, our place in it, and Mankind's attempts to understand that universe, much in line with what I would expect from Carl Sagan or perhaps the more poetic of the New Atheists (except that Nilson does not seem to have a religion-bashing agenda-- he is perfectly happy to celebrate all attempts to understand our place in the cosmos, throughout history). In any case, I find it compelling, beautiful, and the voice of the narrator is humble at the same time that he leads us through the grand mysteries of space and time. I can think of at least one friend who would really enjoy this book-- alas, I don't think there are any translations available. The Swedish here is pretty straightforward, so I'm actually thinking of turning this into a translation project-- there is a lot of Swedish sci-fi that is inaccessible to non-Scandinavian speakers, and that being a special interest of mine, well, I may have found my non-Medieval niche in Scandinavian Studies.
Since I came to this book expecting sci-fi, I think it is interesting to approach it as such-- scientific exploration of our world as narrative, science "fiction", or rather science-narrative, in which the plot consists of the progressive unraveling and knitting together of life, the universe and everything. Very much the sort of personal reflection I would expect from any of the other physicists and astronomers who write science fiction, though I'm not convinced that many of them would be capable of bringing all these various threads together so beautifully. Nilson is very broadly read, and I'm enjoying going along on this intellectual journey with his narrator!(less)
Finally finished this-- no time for a review now (should be asleep, but it wasn't taking so I'm up...), but an enjoyable combination of mystery and sc...moreFinally finished this-- no time for a review now (should be asleep, but it wasn't taking so I'm up...), but an enjoyable combination of mystery and sci-fi! People seem to be taking him for "the logical heir to Asimov and Clarke" or something like that, and that works-- not the experimental edginess of New Wave or the various "punks" out there, just good quality, straight-ahead universe building SF with thoughtful themes that don't get in the way of the nicely balanced plot. That said, I do like a bit more "New Waviness" in my lit, but this sort of book I'm more likely to pick up when I just need to disappear for a while. (less)
**spoiler alert** My original review is left below, since I don't have time to write a full review right now. Gave it 5 stars, though apparently even...more**spoiler alert** My original review is left below, since I don't have time to write a full review right now. Gave it 5 stars, though apparently even the author didn't like how much of an evil strawman the antagonist is. I liked it anyway-- probably just enjoyed hating the villain too much, I suppose. Anyway, great short novel, and an interesting take on planetary romance-- leaning more towards what I think of as anthropological sci-fi, though that is a problematic label (but actually very interesting in its problematicness).
Really enjoying this short book so far. The shorter novels of this period (New Wave sci-fi) may sometimes feel like they don't have room to really draw out a plot like we expect to be done, but I have to admit, I wish people were writing more short stuff like this nowadays. Still a bit beyond the reach of a novella in a journal, but shorter than the 4-500 + page monsters that seem mandatory in the field now. I like long books too-- just wish we had the shorter option as well.
In many ways it feels like LeGuin is hitting us over the head with a postcolonial club in this book, but hey, it's sci-fi, and the genre has a long tradition of exaggeration and black and white conflict between the clearly good and the clearly evil. The influence of Vietnam is clear, from the military tech used to the atrocities and the construction of the natives as a not human, but human enough to villainize on the part of the main villain (ironically enough). I also just found a reference to D-day by way of justifying the genocidal war against the natives-- which I take to be a reference to the use of the patriotic narrative of WWII to justify other wars, such as Vietnam.
The culture/society of the the natives is fascinating, and LeGuin's family history in anthropology shines through. I've never run across a more intriguing attempt to portray a society living at the intersection of the "real world" and the timeless world of myth-- possibly exaggerated a bit much (this is an alien culture, after all), but clearly drawn from knowledge of the role of myth, archetypes, etc, in anthropology. I think there is a bit of Jungian influence-- more than I'd like-- but I think it's possible to read it without that. No, I don't like Jung, I admit, but maybe I just have not delved into his work enough. In any case, I hazard the term "archetypes" partly because of what seems to be a Jungian connection, but I don't think we need to be hard-core Jungian to use that term. Or perhaps we could evade the Jungian connotations with a reference to "mythic prototypes". Whatever-- I find it a fascinating and productive stretching of our perceptions of religion, gods, etc-- "anthropological" sci-fi at it's best, taking the term to = creating a new culture and investigating the problems of interacting with/understanding it (and ignoring the misuse of "anthro-"). It could be said to go too far, taking our image of the "primitive" and exaggerating it to make it ever more the exotic Other-- but I don't think that is a fair criticism, since the book is very aware of the problem of Otherness and attacks it very skillfully. In particular, the chapter I just read shows the main villain (of the oafish sort, but very despicably evil nevertheless) getting trapped by his conflicting excuses-- the natives are not human and therefore may be enslaved and treated horribly, but he rapes their women, so he must consider them human or he would be committing bestiality. Shortly thereafter he stops sleeping with them and goes on with his genocide.
There is a not-so-subtle juxtaposition of a feminist critique with this postcolonial critique. Right from the start we see that Earth men use Earth women as broodmares and whores-- they are even shipped from the home planet to placate the men working on the colonial planet. So far the connection has not been made explicit, but it is an expected comparison of the plight of two sorts of "subaltern"-- commodified/objectified women and the bestialized, castrated, monstrous Other of the native. There is actually a defined contrast between male and female roles in the native population as well, but in that situation both positions are arguably positions of power and respect-- not so with the Earth women, as portrayed so far.(less)
Really really enjoying this book! She seems to be doing everything that I'd like to do, as far as bringing Critical Theory, Phenomenology and Psychoan...moreReally really enjoying this book! She seems to be doing everything that I'd like to do, as far as bringing Critical Theory, Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis together into a fairly positive and constructive philosophy of human be-ing. Right now am enjoying her synthesis of Heidegger and Lacan, two thinkers I am particularly interested in. (less)
I love discovering new space-based hard-sci-fi, and I've heard good things about Alastair Reynolds-- but I've got to say, this just looks like a more...moreI love discovering new space-based hard-sci-fi, and I've heard good things about Alastair Reynolds-- but I've got to say, this just looks like a more fleshed out sampling of Arthur C Clarke motifs so far-- lots of Rendezvous with Rama, plus a bit of 2010 with the Chinese as the bad guys racing to be first. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make me wish I were trying something a little more original of his. I do like reading fiction written by scientists (though I thought he must be a bit off having them exploring an asteroid with a ton of depleted uranium in their suits-- might make them weigh enough, but the inertia must be impossible to handle. But maybe I have something wrong, since Reynolds is an astrophysicist and I'm just a mythologist). Just read most of a chapter with several successive one-on-ones between captain and chief engineer-- maybe it was just supposed to reflect the empty time as they travel towards their destination, but it just felt like a poorly coordinated group of plot points. Well, the prose is way better than what I've been reading in Peter Hamilton's work, so I guess I can't complain too much. We'll see whether the overall plot in Pushing Ice matches up with the grandeur of Hamilton's-- though I will note, I wish I'd never picked up Hamilton-- worth reading once you've started, sure, and there is some intriguing and detailed world-building going on, but just doesn't do it for me enough that I feel like it's worth missing out on other books in the meantime. Reynolds, I'm reserving judgment on for the time being.(less)
I've never gone through an intro to the concept of mimesis before-- not sure I need it, but I figure I can skim this and make sure I'm not embarrassin...moreI've never gone through an intro to the concept of mimesis before-- not sure I need it, but I figure I can skim this and make sure I'm not embarrassing myself whenever I bring it up...(less)
I'm reading this as a supplement to the Cultural Memory reading I'm doing-- not sure how closely it will relate, or how much it will help with the pro...moreI'm reading this as a supplement to the Cultural Memory reading I'm doing-- not sure how closely it will relate, or how much it will help with the problems of source criticism for ancient, oral religious beliefs which I am investigating, but I love Ricoeur, so I'll give it a go anyway! I suspect it would be best if I were to finish the Time and Narrative series first, but this book seems more directly relevant, so I'm going to see what I can get through for the time being. It's huge though. Not sure I'll be able to afford the time.(less)
Am reviewing literature on source criticism in religious studies for my former adviser-- he suggested I look into Cultural Memory theory, and I'm find...moreAm reviewing literature on source criticism in religious studies for my former adviser-- he suggested I look into Cultural Memory theory, and I'm finding it fascinating! Not sure how much it will help with his project, but it would have been clearly relevant for my dissertation-- I will have to incorporate some of this when I rewrite it for publication (which I ought to be doing...)
The introduction is great-- if nothing else, read that for a good run down of what Cultural Memory is. So far the rest looks interesting as well, but I'm getting a bit frustrated that there is no clear connection to the problem I am supposed to be investigating at the moment.(less)
A decent introduction to Swedish Folklore for the beginner/English speaker, though for graduate students or higher working with Swedish Folklore I rec...moreA decent introduction to Swedish Folklore for the beginner/English speaker, though for graduate students or higher working with Swedish Folklore I recommend Bengt af Klintberg for legend tradition (John's book is actually a translation of selections from Klintberg's work, and it was to Klintberg that he pointed me my first semester), and for Folktales, or Fairy Tales, Swahn. (less)
Been ages since I've read this, but a great book! Whether you are way into reception theory or just want to find out what it is about, this is your bo...moreBeen ages since I've read this, but a great book! Whether you are way into reception theory or just want to find out what it is about, this is your book. Though I will admit that it can be hard reading for those not familiar with academic lit in the humanities.
I love Ricoeur and enjoyed his take on metaphor in his slim volume "Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning", and I'm interested i...moreI love Ricoeur and enjoyed his take on metaphor in his slim volume "Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning", and I'm interested in the Cognitive Linguistic take on metaphor, so I hope to read this as well. Actually, Gary Holland recently did an analysis of skaldic kennings using Cog Ling metaphor theory, and my dissertation is all about skaldic poetics, so it could be that this whole area is a chapter waiting to be concieved. I'd better read fast.
Nov 2008 update-- have read the first chapter and part of the next and am enjoying it so far! He spends a lot of time on Aristotle, as with his Time and Narrative volume 1. I think those two works, plus the short Interpretation Theory, share many of the same concerns, and they were all written roughly in the same period of his career (well, over the course of maybe 15 years, but all coming in the period after he took the linguistic turn himself and started bringing structuralism and post-structuralism into his hermeneutics). Rule of Metaphor also has a good review of his career up to that point in the appendix. (less)
I actually did read this, and #'s 2 and 3, over the course of a few years, and have been meaning to get back to them-- I don't like seeing the movies...moreI actually did read this, and #'s 2 and 3, over the course of a few years, and have been meaning to get back to them-- I don't like seeing the movies before reading the books. Unfortunately I get to them so rarely that I tend to forget what happened-- I think I'll have to reread the first three before moving on and finishing the series. I remember enjoying the first book (and the next two), and the movie was good too. I don't think it totally blew me away, but I liked the whole "persecuted boy turns out to be valuable to other valuable people and gets to go to a school that is actually an escape from mundane reality where the world depends on his maturing into a noble young man (whereas previously it was assumed from the get go that he was a good for nothing)"-- no wonder so many of my students like it! Reminds me of the "kolbitr" stories of the Icelandic sagas-- a "male-cinderella" tale type. I ended up starting the series because an "away" member of my writers group did a review of the first, saying that it was "a good read, but not great literature", then got to the fourth and said "okay, THIS is great literature"-- so I just had to find out. Of course, I haven't even gotten to the fourth yet, and now the series is about to end! Well, I'll just have to get to it, I guess. Too bad I have this awful habit of working on 20+ books at a time (or starting them and putting them on my "reading" shelf, anyway). (less)
Been a while since I read this, but it was good enough at the time-- I suppose 3 stars is technically what I should give it, but as you can see from m...moreBeen a while since I read this, but it was good enough at the time-- I suppose 3 stars is technically what I should give it, but as you can see from my shelves, I'm reluctant to score low, especially if I haven't read the book for a while. I thought this book was good but light, a nice introduction, but not the most in depth critique of the two-- I think one could go a lot further. But I'll have to review this some time when I've reread it and have it fresh in my head. I thought I'd reviewed it before, but apparently not since it's letting me write this now. (less)
I first read this in used paper back form (I guessed '97, but it may have been earlier) and enjoyed them as young-adult sci-fi in the vein of Star Wars (very much in that vein). I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy at the Mt Hermon writers conference one year (got to drink root beer with her while watching John Fischer sing at the Mt Hermon soda fountain!), and she's a really cool person who loves the read the sorts of things she writes. I have to admit, though, of those books she has rewritten for the Christian market, I typically enjoy the original versions better-- there is just something about the flavor of the prose that changes, though I noticed it most with Shivering World (my favorite of her books). Still, with this new version of the series she was able to expand the story line and add a concluding book, which is a good thing-- though to be honest, when I got to the third I lost steam and haven't been able to finish it (though that has also happened with books I'm a big fan of-- sometimes life derails my reading and I can't get back on the track again). I hope to reread the new version of the trilogy again soon, and may be able to post a more thorough review then. (less)
A nice, short book that ranges from Structuralism to Speech Act Theory to Metaphor and manages to bring it all together into a fairly easy to understa...moreA nice, short book that ranges from Structuralism to Speech Act Theory to Metaphor and manages to bring it all together into a fairly easy to understand thesis on how we read. A bit out of date now, I suppose, but I think I see some foreshadowing of Cognitive Poetics, though of course with Ricoeurs own phenomenological twist to it all. It's been a while since I read this, so I'll try to go back over it and give a more detailed review at some point. (less)
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