Book Nerd’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2018)

Book Nerd’s comments from the Never too Late to Read Classics group.

Liane wrote: "Now all that said, I read some other reviews and there are big parts I missed about the setting (a colonized planet?) I may go back and skim to figure out how I missed this, but iI really didn’t enjoy it enough to reread the whole thing."

Yeah, they sometimes refer to Urath. That's earth where they came from originally.

Tracey wrote: "I would like to read these. Are they already scheduled for specific months?"
No, just something to read this year when you have time. I'm not sure when I'll get to them.

Liane wrote: "I’ve started but slow getting into this. I hope it picks up."
How's it going?

Vince wrote: "I've heard that another famous writer who was friends with Zelazny (maybe Gaiman or GRRM) said he wrote Lord of Light around the godawful pun [spoilers removed]. I don't quite believe that, but I'm..."
hehe, I guess ideas come in all kinds of weird ways.

John wrote: "I started this one - but simply didn't like it. So in ine with my new resolve to DNF any book that I'm not enjoying, this one has been abandoned."
Oh well. Better luck next time.

Now I really want to try this tiger stripe ice cream!

Welcome Enrico. I've only read Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen. I definitely plan to read the rest eventually.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny


279 pages

Group Total: 4,914

Welcome Tatiane. The Count of Monte Cristo is great.

Welcome Cynthia. I raid free bins too much too.

Mbuye wrote: "Yes, actually it was. In fact, at its peak, it almost completely obliterated Hinduism in India. One reason: Hinduism has a rigid caste system, while Buddhism has none. The Hindu revival coincided w..."
That's interesting. I did see something that said this is Zelazny's version of the rise of Buddhism.


The book was okay but I didn't really love it. There were so many weird info dumpy passages. (view spoiler)[How many death fake outs did Sam have?? (hide spoiler)]

Mbuye wrote: "No, actually it doesn't clash with Hinduism; it follows the Hindu-Jain-Buddhist iconography and characteristics perfectly -- and suddenly it diverges!

In any case, I 've put it behind me, and the book's actual plotline is falling into place."
I wasn't commenting on what you said.

In the story Sam recreated Buddhism to undermine the gods.
I was wondering if in the real world Buddhism was at first considered a schism and threat to Hinduism when it started.

I like how it's using sci-fi elements to recreate Indian mythology with reincarnation, karma, demons, etc. Also I thought it might mirror the beginnings of Buddhism. I'd imagine it clashed with Hinduism early on, right?

Wonka was really excellent. The kind of family movie you really don't see anymore.
A lot of the new, whimsical things they added seemed a lot like something written by Roald Dahl.
It stuck really close to the 1971 movie though there were some discrepencies.

The Terror A Mystery: ARTHUR MACHEN by Arthur Machen

129 pages

Group Total 1,095

I really enjoyed this. It kept me guessing until the very end with all the very different deaths.
(view spoiler)[I was thinking some Lovecraftian terror or avenging angels and near the end I thought there wouldn't be any explanation. I'm not sure if that would have been better.
The explanation was kind of diappointing to me. I know it's over a hundred years old but we've seen the whole "when animals attack" plot so often it feels like a huge cliche, (hide spoiler)]

Mbuye wrote: "The terror it describes could not possibly be a terror to our blasé twenty-first century minds, but the skill and the deliberate, slow and even tortuous descriptions really makes the hair stand on end"
Yeah, that's something old horror does really well.

I'll read this in a few days.

I hate when a goodreads description is just talking about the publisher and nothing about the plot of the book. I think this one is better: The Terror A Mystery: ARTHUR MACHEN

I've been wanting to read this for a while. The three books should be good to read sometime in 2024.

The Cosmic Trilogy relates the interplanetary travels of Ransom, C.S. Lewis's ill-informed and terrified victim who leaves Earth much against his will.

Out of the Silent Planet
Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' – Earth – whose tragic story is known throughout the universe...

Perelandra
Perelandra continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Ransom. Pitted against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, the great man must battle evil on a new planet — Perelandra — when it is invaded by a dark force. Will Perelandra succumb to this malevolent being, who strives to create a new world order and who must destroy an old and beautiful civilization to do so? Or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve a spiritual perfection as yet unknown to man? The outcome of Dr. Ransom's mighty struggle alone will determine the fate of this peace-loving planet.

That Hideous Strength
The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a Sociologist who is enticed to join an organisation called N.I.C.E. which aims to control all human life. His wife, meanwhile, has bizarre prophetic dreams about a decapitated scientist, Alcasan. As Mark is drawn inextricably into the sinister organisation, he discovers the truth of his wife’s dreams when he meets the literal head of Alcasan which is being kept alive by infusions of blood.

Jane seeks help concerning her dreams at a community called St Anne’s, where she meets their leader – Dr Ransom (the main character of the previous two titles in the trilogy). The story ends in a final spectacular scene at the N.I.C.E. headquarters where Merlin appears to confront the powers of Hell.

Mbuye wrote: "That's just it. It is so accurate in some parts that when the God of Death, for example, lights a cigarette, I'm thrown completely off."
Yeah, it should be a hooka or something to be more on theme but it was the late 60s and Zelazny was a smoker so there are cigarettes.

Vince wrote: "Lord of Light is one of my favorite books of all time. Chapter 3, I think, was first published separately as a short story, and even before I discovered that I thought it was one of the best parts of the book."
That's cool.

Mbuye wrote: "Tried very hard to get into this book, which is a sci-fi classic, but got very confused with intrusive images from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. The less you know of either of those, I imagine, the easier to read Zelazny."
So it's not that accurate to the real mythology?

I know him from The Chronicles of Amber. I've been meaning to read Lord of Light for a long time now.

Thanks. That looks great.