I didnt read this a kid so i didnt have to see it with new eyes as an adult. My impression is that its both a mad, fun story and it is also complex onI didnt read this a kid so i didnt have to see it with new eyes as an adult. My impression is that its both a mad, fun story and it is also complex one for a novel aimed at children. A story whose literary quality both kids and adult can enjoy.
I have more respect for Carroll's writing ability than i expected and i like how he didnt look down on the reader. Some books aimed at kids look down at them, oversimplify things. I have not even see a film based on this novel so everything was fresh, new to me. Other than knowing the characters was classic ones that appear in many other stories. I know the Mad Hatter from Batman comics as a villain. The scene with Alice, March Hare, the Hatter was one my fav parts of the novel. There were also some lovely poetry qouted in the novel and im not surprised to find after a quick search that Carroll was a poet.
Some 1800s books are important,rated in their times and become classics but doesnt have the same effect,the writing and storytelling ability centuries later to be true literary classic imo. This is novel is not one of those and its a very fine classic. ...more
This book i could have rated easily 4 stars if it was original story with Raylan Givens like Riding the Gap. Not the Leonard best writing but quality This book i could have rated easily 4 stars if it was original story with Raylan Givens like Riding the Gap. Not the Leonard best writing but quality dialogue,colorful characters are there as usual. I rate it 2 stars because its weird copy of the TV show. Taking too much from the tv show style wise. Leonard has changed too much to fit in with the tv show.
The TV show writing feels much more like Riding the Gap, Pronto which had Raylan who was cool, great bad guys,funny dialogues. This Raylan is just a superficial copy of Timothy Olyphant. ...more
I must thank the Nobel library, they knew enough to have copies of alot of rare Lord Dunsany, the only library in the country to have this book from 1I must thank the Nobel library, they knew enough to have copies of alot of rare Lord Dunsany, the only library in the country to have this book from 1914.
The Gods of the Mountain it was a cautionary tale with Gods,beggars. Mythical story set in ancient times like The Golden Doom, King Argimenes and The Unknown Warrior. This story like the two others reminded me of how they wrote about Gods,kings,slaves in Greek Tragedies. Brutal Gods,times. The Golden Doom and The Gods of the Mountatin was decent but not much more. I expect better than that from Lord Dunsany compared to my experience with his brilliant fantasy prose stories.
King Agimenes and The unknown Warrior was better version of the first two, quality bleak mythical story. The last two stories The Glittering Gate, The Lost Silk Hat were set the author present times. The Lost Silk Hat was the strongest play, it was comic play that was so ubsurd and wonderful read. ...more
After a slow start to this book i couldnt imagine it would end being a smart political near future SF that became much better. It had compelling charaAfter a slow start to this book i couldnt imagine it would end being a smart political near future SF that became much better. It had compelling characters, interesting cyberpunk elements and political ideas,world that made you think. Surprisingly strong for a debut novel. ...more
I wouldnt say i enjoyed this play because it was about like many other Strindberg plays about males who try to defeat/seduce a woman and women writtenI wouldnt say i enjoyed this play because it was about like many other Strindberg plays about males who try to defeat/seduce a woman and women written like a sort of maneating monster. The dialouge was powerful,technically,character wise it was more impressive than Miss Julie to me.
Tekla the female lead was not a weak victim like Miss Julie, i liked that. Strinderg had to make strong to show how her husand became weak because of her.
August Strindberg is better playwrighter than novelist but too many stories of his feel like he uses his fiction to fight back the winds of change in late 1800s when there were groups of women who wanted more rights. He is more interesting when he writes dream like plays and not realistic naturlism dramas about gender roles,family....more
The poetry in this collection was divided in four sections. "Prolouge","Poems about War", "Poems not about War",Epilouge.
The most powerful and my fav The poetry in this collection was divided in four sections. "Prolouge","Poems about War", "Poems not about War",Epilouge.
The most powerful and my fav poem in the collection "A Mother In A Refugee Camp," about a mother's love for her child, her hopeless acceptance of that child's imminent death from starvation. Achebe painted a haunting image of the mother in few lines.
Other favs are "Mango Seedling","Lazarus","Lament of the Sacred python","Dereliction","Knowing Robs Us. There were many different poems in the collection, there were some humorous,ironic,cheerful ones too. Mostly i enjoyed the ones that was clearly about the myths,legends of his culture,country. The ones about war becomes more powerful with his writing,his intelligence.
Only reason i dont rate this collection 5 stars is because the second half of the poems was not as brilliant as the first half....more
I finally read this story after having enjoyed Le Fanu's ghost,weird stories for few years. His prose in this story was finer than in his other storieI finally read this story after having enjoyed Le Fanu's ghost,weird stories for few years. His prose in this story was finer than in his other stories, the way he build the supernatural,creepy mood was near perfect. Carmilla,Laura,the schloss(palace), the gothic country side etc was really well done. The kind of horror story, vampire horror i rate highly when its well written. Carmilla i might have expected to be less freaky ruthless monster which is a nice surprise. I liked how naturally her being lesbian was written. She wanted to love her girls before she feeded on them. It could have been tamer,less important part of the story for a story written in 1872
I have not been overly impressed by many vampire horror stories and i havent read Dracula,Polidori's The Vampyre for example so this was the best vampire story i have read. I enjoyed it immensly because it is a story that deserve all its acclaim,classic status. ...more
Vance saved the best villain for the last, the most interesting,fascinating and insane of the criminals called Demon Princes. Howard Alan Treesong wasVance saved the best villain for the last, the most interesting,fascinating and insane of the criminals called Demon Princes. Howard Alan Treesong was something.
It was a very fine ending to a great series and Kirth Gersens personal story had a good bitter end for me. Not the usual kind of revenge story. Technically this book might have been the best along with the fourth book The Face but i enjoyed The Face more. It had more interesting, weird human cultures,more interesting side characters.
I rate this book 5 stars because its the best of its kind in my reading experience of SF Space Operas, SF thrillers. Not that you should expect political,epic action story in space. Gersen stories were more about human cultures,meetings of those cultures in the guise of a SF thriller revenge story. The few action scenes there is in every book was intense, enjoyable to read for a Vance book who usually dont focus on those elements....more
The plot is like before Kirth Gersen is hunting down one of the Demon Princes who destroyed his familThis book is book 4 of 5 in Demon Princes series.
The plot is like before Kirth Gersen is hunting down one of the Demon Princes who destroyed his family and homeland when he was a boy. Lens Larque is not the weirdest, most dangerous of the villains Gersen has faced in his quest for revenge. He was smart enough be a real challenge though.
What made this book great is the witty, clever way Vances makes fun of human behavior with the Darsh culture and the Methlen culture. The Darsh are ugly people, have a caotic way of life, disgusting cuisine and the Methlen are vain snobs who look down on every other human in the Universe.The Darsh also have an exciting game of survival called hadaul. There is also Kirth Gersen's inner struggles with part of him that wants to settle down to happy normal life and the single minded, ruthless part of him that wants to live only for killing the famous criminals who destroyed his family. Vance is not the kind of writer that writes straight SF thriller.
Vance usual high level writing plus character like Kirth Gersen and the way he seemlessly created far future human cultures and says something about human condition is the landmark of his SF works in novels or short stories....more
I read this for a new literary class about gender roles,power struggles through theories,literature.
It is not an easy read but it is written so impresI read this for a new literary class about gender roles,power struggles through theories,literature.
It is not an easy read but it is written so impressively rhetorically, very intelligently. He expressed with great logic everything that is wrong with the male gender's power over women in his times. His arguments are very modern,bold but he was also realistic about the male powers not letting go their control of the other gender in his times.
The arguments are still used today and people use pretty words to talk about basic human rights that he demanded in 1850s. A man ahead of his times and its a shame the gender equality issues hasnt improved very much, become much more equal in 150 years.
I will read his other philosopher works about inequality later when i don't read books on time for classes....more
I read this book in one sitting late last night and it was no fast read that was only fast paced and no depth. It took me 5-6 hours to read because i I read this book in one sitting late last night and it was no fast read that was only fast paced and no depth. It took me 5-6 hours to read because i wanted to enjoy everyone nuance, character, dialogue.
I read recently the first book Pronto in this Harry Arno/Raylan Givens series and this book improved on the faults,weakness of that book. It had better mix of fun,quirky story and hardboiled,darker story. The first book was too much quirky and too little hardboiled for my taste with a hero like Raylan. This book have also better characters specially when it comes to the criminal,low live characters. They had more depth, interesting personalities.
Raylan is only one of 4-5 POV characters and doesn't appear in every page but he carried the book really well. Cant wait for his solo book!
Elmore Leonard have been a writer i liked for his mastery of dialogue, characters but i only read 10 books of his in 4 years meaning he was a so so favorite compared to other similar writers i have read like 20 books in the same time period. There was something lacking in his early 70s,80s crime books that i have read. His more recent 1990s,2000s books that i have read since 2010 have changed that. The Hot Kid Carl Webster books, Raylan books etc He is better than ever in his 80s, thats crazy.
I convinced the local library to buy in this 2012 reprinting of the book and do other readers a favor. The other books of his in the library are old hardcovers, cheap mass market. Not good enough for a literary great like this author....more
I have read 11 Elmore Leonard books so far and this one is the least favorite. It lacked almost everything that makes him a hailed writer of this kindI have read 11 Elmore Leonard books so far and this one is the least favorite. It lacked almost everything that makes him a hailed writer of this kind of books. It wasnt enough well written hardcore story and it wasnt fun story with quirky characters like some of his other crime books. He is a rare master of great dialogue and believable shady,low life characters. Except LaBrava himself the other characters felt like a parody,vanilla versions of his other better books,characters.
This book show how useless yearly awards like Edgar award really is too. LaBrava might have been the best american crime book of 1984 but it is not near the best Elmore Leonard book in the 80s or let alone compared the great books he has written in 1990s-2000s. Its a decent novel but he has written many better books that didnt win some lame award like Edgar Award.
It also shows he has improved as writer even his 70s,80s. I have read his 1970s books they dont compare to post 1990 books of his. He is great writer of any kind of field because of his prose,dialouge but this book is not the best example of that. I dont want sound too critical of this book i rate it weak 3 stars because of his writing but i expected much better because of his record of strong books....more
I have not been impressed by the Swedish realistic YA novels i have read so far. Dominated by young authors in their 20s-30s writing about their experI have not been impressed by the Swedish realistic YA novels i have read so far. Dominated by young authors in their 20s-30s writing about their experience as teenagers, teen issues and serious issues like death,family,cancer etc but without any depth to the stories i have read. Mundane stories that say nothing real.
This novel, this author changed that completely. A story about 14 year old Cilla that have been sexually abused by her father for years, dealing with her shame, losing joy for everything she liked before. How her mother try bribe her with gifts to keep her quiet and doesnt want to know about what she sees happening.
Usually this kind of story in tv,film,books get too melodramatic and doesnt feel real. This writer wrote so convincing,nuanced,so real from the girl's point of view creating a powerful, haunting story that felt so real, important. I spent more time thinking about often you read about child molestors, their victimes in the papers and how they barely get any prison time. Went from being angry against this society and its law and order and feeling sad for the girl, her family situation.
You can forget the terrible news 2 minutes later but you cant forget when you read a personal story about the victim. ...more
Pollock wrote with strong prose a powerful,haunting story about residents in two rural communities. It was different how he had many POV characters, sPollock wrote with strong prose a powerful,haunting story about residents in two rural communities. It was different how he had many POV characters, some that you read about in few pages and never read about them again. It made the story less predictable and more real with many authentic characters. There were only a few clear main characters.
I was deeply moved by the stories of some of the characters, their situations. Others like Carl Henderson was sick in mundane,creepy way and not just another fake monster you see in other crime fiction.
I could read 300 pages of this novel if it was just about people living their lifes, walking through dim woods to their homes, the places he wrote about felt that real, important story. His writing ability, his ability to write great characters that feel as real world people was much higher than i expected. I have no choice but to rate this novel 5 stars, near perfect novel and one of the best i have read in this kind of literature.
The biggest flaw of the book is that it had a bit too many coincidences near the end. It stood out because before that i couldnt predict what will happen next....more
The version i read is not this GR version but some old british copy from 1936 i got from the library.
There are two great things about this novel that The version i read is not this GR version but some old british copy from 1936 i got from the library.
There are two great things about this novel that i want mention before i talk about its flaws. First ERB prose have aged surprisingly well, was smooth, easy to read the narration of JC. He wrote so imaginative that he created well crafted characters, powers,alien cultures, a whole world like it was so easy, very impressive for a pioneer work specially that had no Sword and Planet tradition of Mars, Venus stories to follow.
John Carter himself was a larger than life hero but very original for his genre in that i could see big parts of him in other SF, Sword and Planet heroes i have read before this novel. ERB wrote often how he was a gentleman from Virginia but i found him to refreshingly different in that he had a mannered, pleasant side to him before he went hardcore, violent on his enemies. Too many modern versions of him is dark,gloomy violent avengers. JC is a true adventure hero that is easy to root for and much more compelling than i thought to read the story from his first person POV.
The flaws was that he didnt explain the telepathy powers as well he explained the rest of that world. He didnt make me believe as he did with the superhuman powers JC got in Mars. Also the action scenes in the second half of the book he jumped over too often. JC moved and the enemy was dead or beaten without you saw it like the violence was censored away for the readers of that those days.
Overall i thought it had everything you can expect from a quality novel of this kind. ...more
This book is written with simple, straight prose that makes it an entertaining read. Not the best written YA fantasy i have read but it was good for wThis book is written with simple, straight prose that makes it an entertaining read. Not the best written YA fantasy i have read but it was good for what is it.
Story wise it was pretty straightforward adventures in magic school until the last 50 pages that was more exciting, more things happened. Maybe it becomes even more magic fantasy in the other books.
I can see its appeal for younger readers and for adults looking for fun read. Most Harry Potter fans i know are people who dont read fantasy and thinks its more original than it is. Harry is certaintly not an original hero in children, YA lit or in fantasy but the literary Harry Potter was more likeable, interesting than the film version. ...more
This is a modern classic novel in Swedish children novel. A warm, witty and very authentic story i could see easily why its so acclaimed. The kind of This is a modern classic novel in Swedish children novel. A warm, witty and very authentic story i could see easily why its so acclaimed. The kind of novel kids of this age must read....more
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