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

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

This will be my western for the year. :)

Gilbert wrote: "I suppose no one else is reading the two fourth quarter husky and hefty reads.
Pity, they're pretty good."
I am planning to read Demons eventually. I'm a big Dostoyevsky fan.

Yeah there's always a pile but it's not very long.

Yeah, it definitely doesn't seem to be centuries in the future.

I've been going through it. It's ...interesting.

That's really interesting. I didn't think that they might be actual reincarnation.

The Lurker at the Threshold by August Derleth

Ambrose Dewart was the last lineal descendant of the Billington family. So it was natural that he should come to the legend-shrouded town of Arkham, Massachusetts, to take up residence in the old family mansion in Billington's Wood—even though the house had stood empty and shunned for over a hundred years.

Dewart found a rich legacy of disturbing features awaiting him: an ancient tower surrounded by a ring of stones in the forest, a strangely disquieting window of coloured glass which offered glimpses into some weird dimension of horror, a library of dark and secret lore—and family legends involving mysterious rites, ghastly deaths and disappearances, and the conjuration of vile, age-old Powers from beyond space and time.

Most frightening of all, Dewart found his arrival had brought these horrors to life again.

And the Lurker was once more preparing to cross the Threshold...

Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker

In a tale of ancient evil, Bram Stoker creates a world of lurking horrors and bizarre denizens: a demented mesmerist, hellbent on mentally crushing the girl he loves; a gigantic kite raised to rid the land of an unnatural infestation of birds, and which receives strange commands along its string; and all the while, the great white worm slithers below, seeking its next victim...

Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula, is one of the most enduring and masterful influences on the literature of terror.

So I thought the ending was really interesting. (view spoiler)[He was out of the order what, a week? Then he died. (hide spoiler)]
I liked the poems. All about change and impermanence, which depresses me but they were good poems.
Then the "lives" which were kind of the most interesting part to me. (view spoiler)[In the first one the character with the same name as Knecht learns an important job and then lets himself be sacrificed. Makes me think that Knecht's leaving the order and quickly dying was his attempt to save it.
The second makes me think of his relationship with Tegularius. Knecht helped him a lot but the story shows that Tegularius helped him too and can now take his place.
I don't know how the last one relates to the main story. Any ideas? (hide spoiler)]

The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse


558 pages

Total to date: 444,647

Hi Anna. I really liked Journey to the West.

Yeah, I like games and I thought this would have more details of the game, focus on him becoming a good player and then a master, etc.
Instead it's about his life as an academic monk.
I hope to finish it before the month's over but there are other things I want to read right now.

250 pages in this is really not doing anything for me. I'm putting it aside for Stephen King's new one.

Nora wrote: "I just finished reading Chapter 5 where Bilbo meets Gollum and since Gollum’s my favorite character I absolutely loved this chapter and my favorite part was the riddle game!"
Bilbo totally cheated.

Amanda wrote: "I liked the ending, but I can see where you’re coming from. [spoilers removed]"
Yeah, that makes sense. I'm just thinking about the part where he said (view spoiler)[If they make a mistake they have to wait and try again. (hide spoiler)]

Well I've read the introduction. Have no idea what this game is.

Welcome Patricia and Luis!

What did you think about the ending? (view spoiler)[Throughout the book it implies that the overlords have been to earth before. Then at the end it turns out they hadn't. To me it seems like Clarke changed it at the last minute. (hide spoiler)]

I'll have to check that out.

John wrote: "I've started it also Piyangie. I've never had much success with Clarke, but like you, I'm really enjoying it.

I think this is the third "alien contact" book we've read in the last year; they have all been very different and, at the moment, this is my favourite."
Yeah, I find his sequels really weak. 2001 and Rendezvous With Rama were great and mysterious and gave just enough information. The sequels were pointless.

Piyangie wrote: "I'm not very comfortable in trying out the genre, but if it's good, I'd like to try."
I'm glad you're giving it a try. I love books about possibilities beyond typical human stuff.

I like that Arthur Clarke says that animation the ultimate art form. :)
Especially at the time when it was considered childish.