D’s Comments (group member since Mar 04, 2019)

D’s comments from the We Read Stuff group.

I finished just a couple of days ago and really loved it. Especially the way that she showed the increasingly complicated feelings that Rufus elicited.

Since this is an adaptation of a book I already own and have been meaning to read for a while and graphic novels are quite a bit of extra work for me to read, I am going to use this graphic novel having been nominated as my opportunity to read the original and share my thoughts about the story here. That is provided that no one has objections.

After re-reading this I’m struck by how contemporary this book feels still. Butler just got so much right including the rebirth of overt racism. And I really loved that this book is graphic, we are never really spared the horrible consequences of a broken society but it’s not gratuitous, we see and hear about the horrible things that happened to people and that people do to each other but it never has the feeling of torture porn.

Finished. It was a pretty quick read for me. I thought the story presented some interesting ideas and I really liked the concept of a book with in a book as it was used in this but the characters were really flat for me. None of them quite felt like real people. This honestly felt incredibly reflective of its time., Very much a science fiction take on a cold war era spy novel.

I have not yet. I finally got a copy and I am looking forward to reading it when I finally have a little space in my reading schedule. Or when a group or Buddy read of it starts which seems to be how most of my reading gets decided these days.

I am planning on starting this after I’ve finished the book I’m currently reading, so probably sometime later today. As in after sleeping. My partner is very excited about my reading this since it’s been on my TV are forever and it’s one of his favorite books. And I’ve refused to watch the show with him until after I’ve read the book because I am that person.

This book and the sequel are two of my favorite books of all time. I am really excited about getting the chance to re-read it and discuss it. Without spoiling anything I’ll say that some of the god as change aspect of the religion make more sense as you read the second book.

I nominate The Left Hand of Darkness which one both the Hugo and the nebula awards.

I’ve had a very inconsistent experience reading John Steinbeck novels. Some I’ve really enjoyed, others have been almost painful. So despite its having a really good reputation I approached this book with a certain amount of uncertainty. And I have to say I actually really enjoyed reading it. The start was a bit slow for me, and I would have appreciated it more complex female characters, and a more complex view of women in general as expressed by the author, but I found myself increasingly invested in the story as I read. The religious parallels were pretty intense but I didn’t feel at any point that they were overwhelming or that they got in the way of telling a good story.

I just finished this series recently, I would advise Reading fairest first and following it with winter.

Parable of the sewer by Octavia Butler

It’s cool, life happens.

Are we doing book selections for next month? I didn’t see a thread for nominations but I might have just missed it.

For me, I sort of like the idea that it would complicate my vision of the character but I can certainly see how it would be a difficult book to read for someone else.

In rereading this, I both noticed how much of a very different place where in in terms of conversations about race and gender than we were at the time that this book was written and how still relevant it is today. This really is a great book and I’d forgotten how great it actually is. Having not read go set a watchmen I’m definitely curious to read that now especially in light of having so recently re-read this.

Never read it. It’s on my TBR though. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.

I still have a couple of books I need to read before I can get two broken kingdoms, I seriously overcommitted myself for a group reads this month but it happens. And mostly I blame work which has just been interrupting my reading this month.

I’d actually read this a while back but it was really fun to re-read it. The world building is really excellent. And I had planned to continue this series and never got around to it so this is a really good opportunity to do that. CA is one of my favorite characters but I just generally love the concept of a triumvirate of gods as it is expressed here.

I finished this this morning and it was excellent. I loved all of the different points of view, the use of dialect and just how incredibly expansive this book was. It was sort of a mix of fantasy and science-fiction, with both aliens and African mythology included. I haven’t read anything else by this author but I’ll definitely be looking into some of her other books.

Thanks for being concerned but it’s actually fine. My standard temperature is almost always at 98.8 or 98.9 which is slightly higher than the standard core temperature that you get for humans but apparently that isn’t all that uncommon. I don’t have a fever, I just run a little hot.