Last book you read and how you liked it

Tell us about the last novel, novella, short story you finished and what you liked or didn't like about it.

Discuss with other anons.

Oh forgot, poetry is appreciated as well.

I don't read fiction. I'm an adult.

I also assert maturity by making intelligent posts on Veeky Forums.

I finished Hear the Wind Sing by Murakami recently. It was my first Murakami.
It was pretty comfy. I liked how it felt loose, like Murakami wasn't trying to make some point with everything, or present any kind of philosophy, or even be all that deep even though the opportunity was there.
I am reading Pinball now, and it starts with the pseudo deep philosophizing I was glad wasn't in HTWS, but it died down after the first few chapters, and is now very similar.

I've never seen this particular Murakami mentioned here, but I'd probably start with this if I ever read him. Thanks for sharing.

I just read The Gambler by Dostoyevsky. I was really confused why Polina lost her shit when Aleksey tried to give her money. I get that she thought he was trying to "buy" her, but I thought it was pretty clear on Aleksey's part is that he was doing it because she was in dire straits and needed the money. Then it got even more confusing when Mr Astley starts to despise him and thinks he's morally disgusting. I get that part of that is Dostoyevsky commenting on the "sickness" of gambling. But it all just went to far too fast for me. I mean I can see at the end that Aleksey doesn't love Polina enough to not gamble. But if Polina had accepted the money, surely Aleksey would've stopped?

I, Robot by Asimov. It was alright. I was completely taken for a surprise that the story comprised from a bunch of what-if scenarios. I liked Dr. Calvin's character the most, I can't help but imagine her as Sigourney Weaver. She was cold and sharp but still has traces of human emotions inside.

moby dick

is good book desu

oh here is the picture so you can see a moby dick

The Inheritors by William Golding. Wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. Most of the book was from the perspective of a Neanderthal, so the limits of his perspective made it difficult to determine some of the actions that occurred. Especially once the humans showed up and started doing shit that didn’t make a lot of sense to the Neanderthal or me either for that matter. Some weird proto religion inflvolving dressing up like a stag apparently.
It wasn’t bad but some of Goldings descriptions left me a bit baffled as to what happened and why.

Canary Row by Steinbeck. Rather disappointed after going through his celebrated works (Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden) to land up in a heavy handed socialist fantasy world where hobos abuse people's good nature and then are celebrated as heroes after throwing a party. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

bump

Amulet. It's a good complement to The Savage Detectives, addicting prose, some cool words here and there clashing together. Title-drop at the end. Nice read.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

I thought it was hilarious and it had a surprising amount of depth to it. Also, it took about 2,5 hours to read.

I had no idea that was a book.

Sounds interesting. Thanks, user.

The one and only second best selling novel of 1926!

It actually sold a lot more than The Great Gatsby did at the time, but now it seems to be almost forgotten (about 2.000 votes on goodreads vs. 3 million for Gatsby).

Houllebecq - The extension of the domain of the struggle.

Good - The notion that sexual success is similar to how capitalism works given sexual liberation.

Good - Some great scenes, ideas and vignettes

Bad - Some of the technical ideas of the theory were boring (despite the theory being good in itself)

Bad - Not as good as Atomised (which was much more ambitious. Note. Extension - was his first novel though)

Recommended as starter Houllebecq.

Interpresse - Historien om et forlag
a historie book about a big danish danish comic publisher
other than that I read time machine by hg wells I liked it, I really like the part where the time traveller is fantasizing about killing the morlocks,very relatable

The Metamorphosis by Kafka (in german)

I once read like 4/5 of it and after rediscovering it in some hidden place in my shelf I started it over and finished it this time.

Overall a great story. Maybe went a bit overboard in the end when really everyone, even the sister, wishes him to just fucking die. I somehow got the feeling that she was supposed to be more of a moral consciousness of the family, but I guess it was inevitable in the course of the narrative.
Gregors dying in front of the window was touching and surprisingly tasteful.
The ending was kinda meh, would have been much better to just end it with his death.
Oh, and the absurdity in the first pages with him at the same time acknowledging that he is some disgusting bug while still wanting too go to work was pretty funny, and at the same time (for me) a frightening acurat description of depression.

Very worth it.

I read pic related (in german) and found it quite amazing yet sometimes difficult to grasp because of the very metaphoric language. Then again this kind of language is also what it makes so good. Would recommend, especially if you're into romantic prose/poetry.

Would you say it's a good starter to Bolano?

last bump

It was a tiny little book about silence. I barely got anything out of it. It talked about practicing mindfulness and had quotes from various famous people throughout history. Dumb shit.
I have, however, come to appreciate taking a moment out of my day and spending it in complete silence without anything to distract me, which is kind of what the book wanted me to.
So yeah. I remain mostly indifferent about it.

>and at the same time (for me) a frightening acurat description of depression.
Wow, I never thought of it like that. Good shit my man!

Life in Peacetime by Francesco Pecoraro. Really very good, except some parts. Not the kind of Big Literature the cover said it would be though. I liked the tragic descriptions of the main character not being able to fit in with the idealism of the time (i.e. fighting for the communist revolution) but at the same time being repulsed by his own sucking up to his boss in some depressing mid-tier company.

recently finished fathers and sons (beginning a marathon of the russian greats) and really really enjoyed it. turgenev is an enviable master of handling the emotions and thoughts of his characters and, subsequently, their relationships to others.