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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 28, 2017 12:06:37 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read this over the last couple of days. I used to read it about every other year. It's short and doesn't take much time. But it's been quite a long time since I've cracked it open. But given the political climate it seemed time to visit some old favorites. Yes "Animal Farm" is ant-Soviet. But Orwell was also anti-Fascist (see 1984...and more importantly his fighting in the Spanish Civil War). In this short work, Orwell puts to paper the perfect allegory of the Russian Revolution and the evolution of the Revolution into the Stalinist era. Rightfully hailed as one of the great works of the 20th Century. I need to be sure it's not quite so long before I re-visit it.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 1, 2017 14:06:09 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read this over the last couple of days. I used to read it about every other year. It's short and doesn't take much time. But it's been quite a long time since I've cracked it open. But given the political climate it seemed time to visit some old favorites. Yes "Animal Farm" is ant-Soviet. But Orwell was also anti-Fascist (see 1984...and more importantly his fighting in the Spanish Civil War). In this short work, Orwell puts to paper the perfect allegory of the Russian Revolution and the evolution of the Revolution into the Stalinist era. Rightfully hailed as one of the great works of the 20th Century. I need to be sure it's not quite so long before I re-visit it. Agreed. A fable, but not simplistic by any means. And Orwell was anti-authoritarian and anti-totalitarian, no matter the political flavor given to such a government by the party in power. The moment that still gets to me even in retrospect is the knacker's truck arriving for Boxer. Knacker's trucks are idling all over the Rust Belt, it seems to me.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 1, 2017 14:15:12 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell. I read this over the last couple of days. I used to read it about every other year. It's short and doesn't take much time. But it's been quite a long time since I've cracked it open. But given the political climate it seemed time to visit some old favorites. Yes "Animal Farm" is ant-Soviet. But Orwell was also anti-Fascist (see 1984...and more importantly his fighting in the Spanish Civil War). In this short work, Orwell puts to paper the perfect allegory of the Russian Revolution and the evolution of the Revolution into the Stalinist era. Rightfully hailed as one of the great works of the 20th Century. I need to be sure it's not quite so long before I re-visit it. Agreed. A fable, but not simplistic by any means. And Orwell was anti-authoritarian and anti-totalitarian, no matter the political flavor given to such a government by the party in power. The moment that still gets to me even in retrospect is the knacker's truck arriving for Boxer. Knacker's trucks are idling all over the Rust Belt, it seems to me. I'm hoping to find time to watch the animated version from the 50s soon. Interesting note about it that it was largely funded through a CIA shell corporation. Yeah. The part with the knackers van and Boxer was pretty rending. And that it finally moved Benjamin to action, albeit too late, makes it more poignant.
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 1, 2017 14:51:38 GMT -5
Agreed. A fable, but not simplistic by any means. And Orwell was anti-authoritarian and anti-totalitarian, no matter the political flavor given to such a government by the party in power. The moment that still gets to me even in retrospect is the knacker's truck arriving for Boxer. Knacker's trucks are idling all over the Rust Belt, it seems to me. I'm hoping to find time to watch the animated version from the 50s soon. Interesting note about it that it was largely funded through a CIA shell corporation. Yeah. The part with the knackers van and Boxer was pretty rending. And that it finally moved Benjamin to action, albeit too late, makes it more poignant. Saw that years ago and IIRC, it had some great animation and made its point well. Did not know about the CIA.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 1, 2017 21:06:47 GMT -5
The Girl with All the Gifts by MR (Mike) Carey
I really, really dislike Zombie books. I've read a few, and they're all the same, and they all have the same logical gaps... yet here I am, reading one. I guess the book club has done an excellent job before this picking stuff I either knew I like or thought would be very interesting.
Then, when I realize this was Mike Carey, hope bloomed. Surely, if anyone can write an engaging, thoughtful Zombie novel, he could!
But alas, while this book was certainly a page turner, and I the visually evoked will certainly translate very well into a movie, it's still just a basic zombie book, albeit with the new slant of making the zombies have a scientific explanation instead of a supernatural one.
The main character, Melanie, is a zombie (called 'Hungries' here, but for some reason even though Zombies are super popular right now, no one actually CALLS them Zombies0 that somehow retains most human thought, and is in a class full of similar kids. The adults on hand in the military base/research lab are trying to use them to find a cure to the fungus (the real life Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) 20 years after society crumbled after said Fungus started jumping to humans.
As usual, our intrepid heroes somehow are able to scour the countryside for food, gas, and ammo (though they are less successful then in other similar stories) while dodging the zombies, who have their own logic which is always perfectly exploitable, but in the end the good guys drop one by one in heroic fashion.
The ending was a bit surprising (which was nice), but I wouldn't call it good exactly.. just different. There was far less world building than I prefer, and far more logic holes (which are not only too numerous to list, but a bit spoilery).
In the end, it just confirms that I really just don't like Zombie books. Glad to see a usually great writer like Carey have a commerical success, though .
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Post by berkley on Mar 1, 2017 23:04:48 GMT -5
The Girl with All the Gifts by MR (Mike) Carey The title sounds like a reference to Pandora of Greek mythology, but a zombie story hardly sounds like the right kind of book for that.
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Post by Calamas on Mar 2, 2017 9:31:42 GMT -5
I really, really dislike Zombie books. . . . Not my genre really so this is more out of curiosity than anything else, but . . . Are there any that you liked at all and if so why?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 2, 2017 18:54:07 GMT -5
The Girl with All the Gifts by MR (Mike) Carey The title sounds like a reference to Pandora of Greek mythology, but a zombie story hardly sounds like the right kind of book for that. Very Good! It is a reference to Pandora... the main character is a big fan. Her teacher gives her a book of Greek Mythology (against orders) which she reads over and over. The running analogy is actually the most interesting part of the book ... and the part that made me think of Carey's other work.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 2, 2017 19:04:25 GMT -5
I really, really dislike Zombie books. . . . Not my genre really so this is more out of curiosity than anything else, but . . . Are there any that you liked at all and if so why? Not that I can think of off hand.. I read Parasite by Mira Grant last, which actually was kinda similar, just not as well written. Not a fan of Walking Dead. Zombies are OK as undead Henchmen in supernatural-ish stories, but not as the main attraction, IMO. I think there was a Zombie in the Supernatural-ish Wild West Series Mike Resick wrote.. that was pretty good... maybe that counts? I really don't read too many, since I know I don't like'em. Is there one in particular you think is good? (I always like recommendations)
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Post by Calamas on Mar 2, 2017 22:31:00 GMT -5
Not my genre really so this is more out of curiosity than anything else, but . . . Are there any that you liked at all and if so why? . . . Is there one in particular you think is good? (I always like recommendations) No. That's kinda what I was looking for. Anybody?
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Post by berkley on Mar 2, 2017 23:21:48 GMT -5
Not me. I don't really get the Zombie appeal, though I like a few individual movies and Steve Gerber's stories in Marvel's old Tales of the Zombie. But they generally seem like one of the least interesting of the classic monsters to me.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 13:17:16 GMT -5
Finished Win Scott Eckert's chapbook Being an Account of the Delay at Green River, Wyoming of Phileas Fogg, World Traveler, Or, The Masked Man Meets an English Gentleman.
It's basically a short story that has the Around the World in 80 Days characters encounter the Lone Ranger and Tonto, and they end up running into Fu Manchu in typical Wold Newtonian fashion. It was fun and I can't wait for the next chapbook Eckert has coming in April about Sherlock Holmes.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 4, 2017 22:10:15 GMT -5
Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Jack Clayton, Son of Tarzan and Jane becomes Korak the Killer and follows his fathers footsteps as a jungle lord. A decent entry into the Tarzan canon...though Burroughs turns the "Burroughs coincidences" up to 11.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 6, 2017 11:49:23 GMT -5
Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Jack Clayton, Son of Tarzan and Jane becomes Korak the Killer and follows his fathers footsteps as a jungle lord. A decent entry into the Tarzan canon...though Burroughs turns the "Burroughs coincidences" up to 11. That's the first novel I ever read! I must admit that at the time the coincidences flew right over my head. To this day, I am chagrined that almost nothing interesting was ever done with the Korak-Meriem match!
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Post by berkley on Mar 6, 2017 12:03:47 GMT -5
I've avoided Son of Tarzan up to now, from a general distaste for "son of" characters, but I think I will give this one a shot after all, one of these days.
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