I read this in the late 1990s before my first trip to New Orleans. It’s time to read it again.

refuse to read this book. I had a lot of hope for it, but it turned out to be a horror in the first pages. It includes multiple characters, who engage in conversations with endless disconnected descriptions that make you feel like you're on a roller coaster at the end of which you feel like you haven't understood anything. On page number 25 I gave up on this book. I have lost all my interest. Personally, and with all due respect, it is a horrible attempt at literature. 

Excellent review. Best I've watched so far. Re. the 7s, how about 7th Heaven? I finished the Woods translation last week and would have benefitted from reading A.S. Byatt's intro, but I was afraid of spoilers, You have touched on things that drove me nuts, like the damned pencil. I kept wondering what the symbolism was there, but now I think it may just have been the act of giving and taking. But then there's the "I want that back" urgency. There's so much more in this book. I'll have to read it again someday.

Silk Road without underlining the most fundamental / important player - India ??? As I sense in the book ! India was indeed a central player in the Silk Road network, contributing not only valuable goods like spices, textiles, and precious stones but also significantly influencing the cultural and religious exchanges along these routes. The omission of India’s extensive involvement might seem like a major oversight, considering that the subcontinent’s trade links were integral to the functioning of the Silk Road. It’s like trying to enjoy ice cream without Sugar 😂

Read Housekeeping awhile ago, her first novel. I'm told Gilead and the books that follow are connected. The film version of Housekeeping is a relic from the 1980s worth watching.

Thank you for your review of The Magic Mountain. It's a fantastic novel. As I understand it, the story is an allegory of Europe prior to The Great War. The Sanatorium's patients symbolize different social groups within Europe. They are all sick by degrees.

The present exists as a result of the past and as a cause of the future. We often think of time like a branching tree where one choice can have many different outcomes. I've found it to be more akin to an incredibly tangled and knotted loop.

What I love, really love about this book is that in my opinion Querelle is not a complete psychopath. He almost gives into love and falling in love. But since he has to escape from his own conscience all the time he can´t give in, since it will make him suffer. So he pretty much kills and escapes everything he loves in many ways since giving in is pretty much a death scentence. Alot of people will not interpret Querelle this way, but I do. It is a far more romantic way of interpreting this character (I guess some would consider it an unintelligent way of looking at it) than alot of readers do and also in my honest opinion more sad. I really love this book!

Olaf Stapledon was WAAAAY ahead of his time, especially with this novel. It's been said that he was the inspiration for other sci fi authors, such as Azimov. I really feel, though, that the sci fi author he really inspired was Philip K. Dick, especially with Star Maker and it's dealing with the psychic journey the main character takes through the universe and time. Stapledon was at least thirty years ahead of his time, and Star Maker almost seems like it was a sci fi novel written in the sixties by an author such as Philip K. Dick. I highly recommend it.

My favorite book! Great review!

Where can I buy this, can't seem to find it anywhere

Gotta remember, that it’s not ‘the’ starmaker, merely, StarMaker. Happy birthday!!

Gotta remember, that it’s not ‘the’ starmaker, merely, StarMaker.

For dystopian fiction, check out Ayn Rand's _Anthem._

Eston, thank you for your sophisticated review. ❤

Nice straightforward review. Genet always idolized the tough straight guy and this might be his only book with an explicitly homosexual character, the captain. It's Genet's most literal work but Fassbinder's version is very surreal, it's more like watching a ballet with very stylized movements and dialogue that is deliberately minimal and unreal. When you listed the cast of characters I recalled how bored I got with the endless descriptions of their perfect muscles and teeth and piercing eyes and bulging pants. It's really the birth of that Tom of Finland aesthetic.

Did u add Leno. To your fast

Do I need to read the Bible before this?

That novel was nicknamed "The Genet Bomb" by Cocteau who knew it was going to be a scandal. James Joyce scrambled to find a copy as did everyone else. My favorite line is his description of a soldier's eyes as blue light reflected from the moon onto a razor as seen through the blown out windows of a factory. The experimental nature of the writing is more important that the story. It's nice to see it get some love here. Fun fact, in his old age the French government asked Genet to publish something inspiring to 'todays youth'. He wrote an essay encouraging boys to rob homes and become thieves as an act of self realization and creativity. You can just imagine the reaction.

Thank you very much for this videooo😂😂😂 so interesting

The most important character in this book is not the first guy Herr Raif

Thanks - the Stoics believed in Providence and it’s difficult to argue otherwise. What is Logos if not Providential? Modern Stoicism is different and is more related to a scientific materialism. Atheism is a modern idea and the ancients would not understand the viewpoint.

just finished this

Alas, if you are not German and/or are very proficient in the language and can read and appreciate the wonderful language of Hesse, you are missing out on the best part, I'm afraid.

Great review. I read Blindsight a couple of years ago and it stayed with me. I think about it often. Having said that, I did not enjoy the reading experience, but at the same time I remember finishing the book and thinking: I need to read this again!

Just picked this up at a Christian book store in the "secular" bin. Looking forward reading this.

Thank you. After your presentation, I immediately bought the Everyman edition.The last novel I read by Thomas Mann was "Dr Faustus", which blew me away with its brilliance.

Along these lines, I would recommend "World lit by Fire" by William Manchester

Looking forward to WE presentation.

I've never read Tuchman's work. But I've long been interested in reading something by her. I was surprised that the English peasants' revolts didn't come up. Maybe you just didn't mention it. Some consider those to be the first modern-like revolutions as involving overt class consciousness.

Loved reading this book back in the 80s. Was trully a crazy century.

Hi old friend! A participatory life, indeed. Be well

I read 2/3 of that back in the 80s. I'm pretty sure it's over 1000 pages.

I would have appreciated less summary and more insight as many histories draw parallels with current events. For example, I was watching the film "1776" with my husband last night. I initially thought the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence was an odd choice for a musical, but now we watch it 2-3 times a year and consider it brilliant. At one point, John Hancock in addressing John Dickinson, who has been arguing against independence on the basis of self-interest, says fortunately there are too few men of property to affect policy. Well....there are now! Regarding Tuchman's book, it might be argued that we ARE in a papal schism, with the current pope unpopular with a significant number of Catholics and moving to excommunicate traditionalist church leaders who oppose him, as he did again yesterday. It might also be argued that we've just been through a plague, and with a much more immediate impact because of global communication. Still, you piqued my interest enough to get a copy of the book.

I read this last year. The introductory chapters were very instructive. Lots of anecdotes on the way of life in the 14th century. Good information on the Papal Schism. Her feature personality, Enguerrand VII Coucy was caught between the French and English spheres of influence. A lot of things were going on in that era, and Tuchman's writing is fine.

I've read this while I was in college, the letrecher teacher saw a resemblance between me and hero of the book, she wanted to make sure that my ending would be good not tragic as the hero ( I'm still so glad that she gave me that book)

I love Ann Leckie but was comparatively disappointed with this latest addition to the Imperial Radch world. It continued the trend that started with Provenance of a comparatively small, shallow story. I found its gender themes a little heavy-handed, which surprised me, since Leckie handled them with so much elegant subtlety in the Ancillary series.

My favorite character in this strange second Marlowe story is Second Planting. He, of course, is the Indian (feather) driver of the fake psychic. It's VERY funny when Marlowe refers to him as Mr. Planting. This one is NOT my favorite (perhaps #3 or 4), but it is quite good. The settings and descriptions are tight and lovely in their color and brutality. Chandler wouldn't have countenanced anyone being woke. Thanks for posting. Anne Riordan is too serious and uncomplicated for Marlowe, but he was too much the gentleman and too honest to take advantage of her. He really goes for rich, edgy women who can spar verbally with him.

Lame faith was written by Boris Strugatsky in 2000, his brother already died in 1991.

THANK YOU, I NEEDED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS NOVEL..THANKS

THANK YOU SO MUCH, VERY USEFUL

VERY INTERESTING, AND THE READING OF THE EXCERPTS WERE INFORMATIVE,THANK YOU

Thank you for this. Loved this book. I pity those who can't see its greatness.

you should also read en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Circle_of_Paradise it's very actual today like never before. it was the first book I've read by strugatsky and after that I've read all of them and started to read a lot of sci-fi like vonnegut or lem

Its such a nice book i love murakamis magical worlds. It was really interesting to hear your insights i wonder where his fascination with wells stems from (also the tshirt is awsome)

Thomas Wolfe witnessed

I read it in the 20th century

Twin Peaks Peyton place

Freshman year highschool

BLACK MASK magazine ... Not "Mask" Magazine ...