Gideon > Recent Status Updates

"And while Victor was not - not by a very long measure - one of the most impressively diseased specimens I had encountered, he was certainly the most pitiable [...] because of the thoroughness of the infections. [...] Shapiro and I spent a few pleasant afternoons examining him, naming the diseases we could and arguing over the ones we could not."
Norton writing about one of his twenty-odd adopted kids, p. 390f.

Okay that's disgusting

Still loving it. The narrator is so oblivious of how sociopathic he is. And I wonder whether he's aware he's very clearly gay.
I would love to get a glimpse into the other characters' heads just to know how they see the narrator, but trust the author to stick to the setup she went with so I guess I'll never know

"Travelers heading west would stop in Peet for [some food] before reembarking. The townspeople thrived from these impermanent relationships, which were in their own way pure: the exchange of money for goods, a pleasant farewell, the assurance that neither party would see each other again. After all, what are most relationships in life but exactly this, though stretched flabbily over years and generations?"

Ouch

Ok, so the narrative framework here is that this is a former professor's autobiography, edited and prefaced by a character who couldn't care less whether the professor is a pedophile or not because he's such a brilliant academic. Cool cool cool

"Great. I'm glad we could chat so I could persuade you to be _more_ stubborn. I see that your thoughts and feelings are evolving on this topic - and because you're you, they're going in the absolute wrong direction."

Aw. The book drags a little but there are many character interactions that are absolutely top notch

On an unrelated note: I still adore Adolin and want to ruffle his hair and tell him he's doing well

The whole Shallan thing has been going on for too long and is ridiculous, especially because people just go along with it? I hope that'll be resolved asap

"Dalinar Kholin still stood before the gap. Maybe... maybe he could help?"

Yes I'm sure he has nothing better to do right this moment.

This is a hell of a showdown. Was a little bored for a bit but this is epic

Aww Adolin is such a cutie

Reading about Dalinar as a young man after getting to know his older self for two books hits hard, holy shit

These books are structured so satisfyingly... Reading about young Dalinar has so much more impact in the order Sanderson went for. Same goes for reading about the Assassin in White's skills before Kaladin starts doing weird shit. Or reading about Kaladin's past in the order Sanderson went for. Just so good

Muahaha
Nice move

I love how Sanderson sets up character interactions that could be so good and beneficial for everyone if only they shared what they know or can do... but of course they don't because they don't know what the readers know

"Honour is dead... But I'll see what I can do."

Gah I love these books
Kaladin is a bit too much of a Mary Sue but who cares

"I am a stick," he said. He sounded satisfied.
"You could be fire," Shallan said.
"I am a stick."
The stick was not particularly eloquent. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised.

Adolin taking the time for the most vehement "I told you so" in history might just have turned him into my favourite character :D
P. 1130

You just have to respect Sanderson's worldbuilding

Liking this much more than Mistborn so far, the characters feel much more... real

Mr. Darcy's first name is Fitzwilliam?! I shall endeavour to forget this unsexy name as quickly as I clearly did when I read this the first time

Loving it so far. Love the writing style - lots of academic stuff, mostly rather distant (but in a good and fitting way), but the characters come to life in lots of little moments and phrases

A little self-indulgent but that meshes well with the setting.
I expected Julian to play a much bigger role.
Waiting to see whether shit escalates or kind of fizzles out... I'd be kinda okay with either

Started out really well but I'm a little bored atm

I like that the characters are rather selfish or flawed in other ways

"It was a saber-toothed tiger," J said. "It glowed silver."
Silver meant divine magic. There was no telling what that thing was.
"Snitch," D said.
She waved him off. "He killed it and then he ate it."
I looked at C. "You killed an animal god and then you ate him?"
"Maybe," C said.
"What do you mean maybe?"
"I doubt it was a god." [...]
"Why did you eat it?"
"It felt right at the time."

Alright then

"Immerhin bin ich am nächsten Tag vernünftig genug, dieses neuerliche Unterwandern aller noch verbliebenen Stolzbarrieren nicht abzuschicken."
Einiges ist schon sehr genial geschrieben, aber das Genre ist einfach nicht meins.

Ich hab evtl auch zu viel heutigen Stuckrad-Barre im Ohr, was irgendwie unangenehm mit seinem literarischen Alter Ego von vor 30 Jahren clasht

Hm, weiß noch nicht

Der Erzähler ist kaputt und ein Ekelpaket - soweit durchaus zu erwarten und ja durchaus auch potenziell was Gutes für ein Buch - aber bisher füttert es meine Stuckrad-Barre Begeisterung nicht

Just love how crazy and funny this is.
Love that the main character gets more and more sassy.
Since it gets weirder and weirder, I'm starting to wonder whether a satisfying resolution/explanation/twist is still possible at all. If Fforde pulls one off, I will pester lots of people to read this book

I forgot just how imaginative and batshit insane Fforde's worlds are. Loving this so far

"His instincts told him to simply walk off into the night [...]. But he needed the money, and his instincts had never been worth a runny shit."

Ladies and gentlemen, the poetry of J. Abercrombie

Well shit
I was a little bored until now but... things escalated nicely :D

"The sunrise was the colour of bad blood."

Abercrombie being subtle as usual about writing grimdark fantasy

Margaret says the danger there lies not in buying dishwashers, but in growing emotionally invested in the buying of dishwashers.

Yeah I love Sally Rooney

There's something about Rooney's writing that just resonates with me.
It feels a little self-indulgent and I'm not sure about the portrayal of Ivan, who's clearly neurodivergent in a (so far) unspecified way. Loved the way his thoughts were portrayed and the way he is set up as being very socially awkward, but his behaviour towards M. seems conveniently "normal" apart from some overthinking - but let's see!

Wenn ich Stuckrad-Barre dabei zuhören kann, wie er über Steckdosenbürsten sinniert, dann sollte ich wohl mehr seiner Bücher lesen