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  • 1 month later...

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A Christmas present from the OH. A really fun book. I don't really know Tom Baker as the Doctor. But this was a great showcase to the uninitiated. No doubt fans of the fourth Doctor will get even more out of it than I did too. 9/10

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Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar

 

A fascinating and gripping memoir of the well known naturalist and presenter. It’s not written in a strict chronological order, and at times it’s written from the perspective of someone else watching Chris. This is an interesting idea, since it approximates the depersonalisation that Chris himself suffers due to his autism.

 

The central theme of the book then is how Chris became interested/obsessed with nature as a child. From catching minnows in a jar (which was then smashed by older kids) to trying to rear a captive kestrel, it’s also the story of Chris’s childhood in a household with parents constantly fighting - but who did so much to raise and support him. There are darker moments too, each section of the book ending with therapist sessions later in life after Chris attempted to commit suicide.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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This was.. interesting. The blurb clearly states this was the final novel attempted by Mark Twain. You can tell because the book abruptly ends. The last chapter is barely more than a page and ignores all but two characters. The Adventures of Mark Twain claymation film from the 80's, basically takes the best of this novel and condenses it into a very memorable scene. Not to say the rest of the book is bad.

This version however, is.

The "illustrated" edition, features badly digitised black and white versions of classical paintings. These are probably thematically appropriate? You can't really tell. Thankfully they stop about halfway through. The numbers for appendix references are distractingly present also. Being larger than the text itself. Ironically, there are no appendices within. So the numbers are meaningless.

 

It is an interesting story and Twain's depiction of Satan is a compelling one. Unfortunately, we'll never know how he intended the book to end. 6/10 

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I've never even heard of that book. I read Huckleberry Finn and I know it says the N word about 220 times or something like that, that's the extent of what I recall about Mark Twain.

 

Releasing unfinished manuscripts always seems like such a cash-in. The closest I can think of a 'successful' attempt is how Tolkien's son took on the work of finishing Similarion. Nabokov had a book come out a couple years ago that got thrashed by critics to the point that it was considered to harm his legacy (he even asked it to be destroyed as a death wish) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Original_of_Laura

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Nothing quite that spicy with the language in this though. His views on morality and the human race in general, expressed by proxy through Satan are potentially as controversial though. It is only about 90 pages too. Another tell tale sign it isn't a finished novel.

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  • 1 month later...

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Another Christmas present. This time, purchased via the Folio Society. I had no idea this series began as a book. Written by the same author who also wrote Bridge over the river Kwai. Which too was promptly picked up as a film to much acclaim. Anyone familiar with either set of films or the TV show will find this a very different story. No doubt elements from it were used in later films, in some form or fashion.

The main character/narrator is Ulyssé Merou, a journalist. That finds himself on an experimental mission to the distant star of Betelgeuse. His only companions are the scientist who invented the revolutionary space craft, and his aide. There, they land on the planet Soror and the story begins.

While the same themes are still present, as are certain names such as Zira, Cornelius and Dr Zaius (curse you, Simpsons for ruining that:fist: ) the context is almost entirely different. There is no antagonist, per say. The Ape civilisation also resembles that from the 50's/60's too. With cars, planes, hospitals etc

The one main flaw with the book, is that towards the end there is an extremely forced and convenient exposition dumb. That is just plain weird. For those that think they know where this book is going, from the iconic final shot of the original Planet of The Apes film. This isn't that. Although the ending is clever in it's own right. A very good overall 9/10

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around and began reading Dune for the first time (or "Der Wüstenplanet" in my case, as I decided to read the German translation that's been lying around here for so long it's not even grammatically correct anymore).

 

It's oddly political in the beginning but then again the only things I knew about it going in were "sand and big worms", so it's hard to say what I expected exactly. One interesting thing is that Asimov was miles ahead as far as the actual science fiction is concerned. Dune feels extremely dated in its explanations about life in space compared to Foundation, for example, which was written 15 years prior. Just goes to show just how far-fetched Asimov's ideas must have looked to a lot of people back then despite them being frighteningly on-point at times.

 

But that's just a minor detail and it certainly doesn't impact the overall storyline at all, so far at least. It's intriguing and I enjoyed the 150-ish pages I've read so far.

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I read about half of it a few years ago and didn't take to it. I just couldn't quite get on with this thing where he goes internal thoughts in italics i am an evil guy thinking evil things, it's a style that really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

I'm looking forward to the film though, I reckon that'll just be one of those things where I'll prefer the adaptation to the source. The world is interesting enough to not write off just cause I don't like the dude's writing style. Also the half I read is the part that the first film actually adapts I think, cause there's a very clear watershed in that story from what I remember

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I've tried to read Dune on 4 separate occasions over the years (including listening to the audio book version) and I always bounce off it hard. I like reading sci-fi as well, read a lot of Asimov, Iain M Banks, Stephan Baxter, Arthur C Clarke etc, but Dune I find impenetrable. 

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27 minutes ago, Jimbo Xiii said:

I've tried to read Dune on 4 separate occasions over the years (including listening to the audio book version) and I always bounce off it hard. I like reading sci-fi as well, read a lot of Asimov, Iain M Banks, Stephan Baxter, Arthur C Clarke etc, but Dune I find impenetrable. 

 

I saw the old film in the late 80s, then tried reading God Emperor of Dune... it was a few years before I went back to the original and then read the second. It can be very tough to get into.

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Same failure rate myself. One of those "books to read before you die" that I just can't gain traction with. Maybe next time will be the one? It took me a year of aggressive perseverance to finish Atlas Shrugged, after all.

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Ok, now I'm really motivated to finish this thing. The italics thing doesn't bother me too much to be honest and I can't really say anything about the writing style as I'm reading a translation. I guess if I'd want to nitpick right now it's the names. How do you come up with an entire new universe, people, races, planets, politics etc. and then proceed to name your protagonist Paul? While some other people have these really odd fantasy names? It feels a bit like a crossover between UK politics and Lord of the Rings.

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  • 3 months later...

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