Matt E > Recent Status Updates

(Thanks Harrison for the books!)
Solzhenitsyn is one of my favourite authors - Cancer Ward is a book that influenced me so much it encouraged me not to quit medicine years ago. I look forward to reading this - Solzhenitsyn seems to write with his soul.

We are so back

Annndddd there's the classic fantasy incest

I dont get the criticism that this isn't fantasy because it involved the start of the industrial revolution ???
Steam punk merged with GOT type fantasy is such a sick fusion. Fantasy gatekeepers stay losing

Slaps

'"Do I really want a wife who measures the distance from her chin to her tits in miles"'

Book just absolutely popped off out of nowhere wtf

Introducing a new character just cuz need to kill someone off is a bit cowardly imo

Having one of the main spoilers/points of intrigue be the, albeit cool looking, cover of the book is just a super weird choice ????

Andy Serkis kills this, its fucking sick

Accidentally paid for spotify premium.
Soo Andy Serkis is reading this one for me x

World building is pretty good

'The average millionaire is only the average dishwasher in a suit.'

'The trouble is, intelligent, cultivated people, the very people who might be expected to have Liberal opinions, never do mix with the poor' - thia is just the average Exeter Uni student.

It's depressing how we have gone no further from this mindset.

Progress is slow, moving and starting work is a bit long
Orwell will always be a fun read

Review will be spoilers, so for those who may read and don't want em (elliot):

this book is perfect. 5/5

about page 700 ish at which point I was getting bored - too much politics, not enough action...

But by the end of the book - that's the point! It's so well written, the story so incredibly intricate, the vibe of a whole culture of a time long gone - so well captured.

There is nothing like this

OK, onto book 4...
For the sake of the 5 star review, please please have less politics and something actually happen

Words for penis this book has taught me:
Jade root, Turtle Head, Yang Peak, Steaming Shaft, Male Thruster, Piece of meat

'What in the world would we do in this world without The Piece of Meat.'

Words for vagina this book has taught me:
Jade Garden + Golden Gulley

Also the 30 page chapter describing all the different sex toys Japan had and why that makes their empire better than Britain was enlightening

This is phenomenal - maybe my top 3 book ever?

This is like game of thrones level of plot building but it's all in one book and actually has an end.
The historical detail and the cultural detail is just unlike anything I've read - blud has me learning Japenese as part of the story, alongside his protagonist.
Even the 15 page argument about whether sodomy is good or bad is good stuff.

Easily shaping up to be a 5/5, definitely a must read if u like GoT/Dune

Blud knowing Blackthorne was an English man cuz he knew the latitude of The Lizard, Cornwall is so cold

Goes hard; Samurai, Pirates and Papists : nowt more needed really

I feel this translation is a little stale - a very literal translation. But it's still fun to read

Me and the boys oiling each other up (putting on sun cream) to discuss our important and divine mission (holiday plans) over a feast (a BBQ)

Can't believe this fella wrote the infamous ballad, 'Spiderpig' too....incredible

If Stilgar goes from Badass religious fanatic in the first book, to doing taxes, to being a conspirator - definitely one of the worst character arcs of all time.

First 200 pages of this book could've been like 20 pages and still conveyed the same plot without losing any substance

This book was really dragging... then someone set off a fuck off bomb and its all kicking off, good stuff

Elliots taking fucking ages getting his kebab

This book is so boring. Way too much yapping

Opened from back to see if there was Appendix with this one. There isn't. Only saw one word. One name. Spoiled the return of a character b4 i started 😢

Muad'Dib (me), trying to avoid his foreseen future (wanting a sweet treat) resulting in Jihad (developing tummy ache), while following all those foreseen steps to Jihad (evening trip to Tesco)

This shit slaps, not read anything like it

'Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory hearty' .... some writing that

(Dude described is racist/cheating on his wife )