Paul鈥檚 Year in Books

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2024

35,236

pages read

103

books read

Paul Weiss

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Shortest Book

pages

Longest Book

pages

Average book length in 2024

342

pages

Most Shelved

2,739,772

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Bucharest Travel Guide 2024 by Bella George

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Paul鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.8

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

it was amazing

5.00 average

Paul鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

鈥滻 read evil things between the lines in the newspapers, and usually very faintly but sometimes quite plainly I see, behind the transparent front of things, that cave-man face 鈥︹€�

THE CROQUET PLAYER is definitely not the kind of story HG Wells fans would expect if they were looking for sci-fi novels that might compare to the likes of THE TIME MACHINE or THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU. It is actually a dark, deeply atmospheric ghost story written with 鈥滻 read evil things between the lines in the newspapers, and usually very faintly but sometimes quite plainly I see, behind the transparent front of things, that cave-man face 鈥︹€�

THE CROQUET PLAYER is definitely not the kind of story HG Wells fans would expect if they were looking for sci-fi novels that might compare to the likes of THE TIME MACHINE or THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU. It is actually a dark, deeply atmospheric ghost story written with a foreboding, 鈥渉aunting鈥� literary style that would have done credit to the likes of Edgar Allan Poe or HP Lovecraft. The evil in the story arises from a small town named Cainsmarsh in a clear reference to the first biblical murder. While it dabbles briefly in the ultra-religious Calvinistic preaching against the scientific truth of Darwin鈥檚 theories of evolution, ultimately THE CROQUET PLAYER is believed by literary scholars to be a cautionary allegorical tale warning England and the world against the dangers of Hitler and his emerging cult of Nazism. In effect, Wells compares an unnamed Hitler to an emerging universal evil in the world that is equivalent to a resurgence of antediluvian and unevolved beast man or caveman. Frankly, I think this is an insult to the behaviour and thinking of pre-Homo Sapiens species such as the Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon and reflects a rather self-righteous view of the advanced moralistic state of human thinking.

I would prefer to consider a somewhat more modern interpretation (strictly my own, I might add) in which the entire story is allegorical INCLUDING the references to caveman fossils and bones. Consider the caveman fossils and bones as being Hitler and the evils of Nazism which ought to serve as its own warning to today鈥檚 and future humanity. The frightening ghostly evil emerging from the mists of the story鈥檚 locale in Cainsmarsh stands in for the global fascination with neo-Nazism and hard right-wing politics with which the world is currently flirting. Most notably, of course, the USA might do very well to consider HG Wells as having offered a prescient warning against the rising evils of Trump, MAGA Republicans, and their version of neo-Nazism. YMMV and you might consider this idea to be far wide of the mark, but it is what it is.

Definitely recommended.

Paul Weiss ...more

笔础鲍尝鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

it was amazing

Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice

The Great Depression, 1929-1939 by Pierre Berton

Consider Her Ways and Others by John Wyndham

it was amazing

Life in Darwin's Universe by Gene Bylinsky

The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb by Cathy Ace

it was amazing

Death in a Darkening Mist by Iona Whishaw

General Relativity for Babies by Chris Ferrie

it was amazing

Time Out Seville & Andalucia by Time Out Guides

it was amazing

Only Monsters in the Building by Mark Leslie

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

Twisted Tales Of A Dead End Street by C.A. King

it was amazing

No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson

it was amazing

Tourist Guide Anadalucia by Ediciones A. M.

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

it was amazing

The Man without Shelter by Indrajit Garai

it was amazing

Banquets of the Black Widowers by Isaac Asimov

The Bridge of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai

it was amazing

Men Writing Science Fiction As Women by Mike Resnick

Distantly Falling Stars by Berengaria Di Rossi

Paul鈥檚 last review of the year

really liked it

鈥淟鈥檈sclavage existe encore!鈥�

鈥淟e mot de passe des marchands de chair humaine : COKE EN STOCK鈥�

Longtime, loving Tintin fans and readers of all ages can happily expect a bountiful supply of the hilarious, vaudevillian antics that Herg茅 usually creates for his characters 鈥� Captain Haddock, Tournesol, and Messrs Dupond et Dupont! In the middle of nowhere, we even encounter a surprising cameo appearance from opera diva, Mme Bianca Castafiore!! But under ...more

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