Cat Milton > Recent Status Updates

The character, Senhor Jose is annoying me - insipid, self-absorbed, deceitful. I am trying and so far failing to identify a redeeming quality.

Interesting. The clear lines of how a war impacts on each psyche differently, and yet these psyches need to live together. The son who spouts Hitler Youth indoctrination, the mother who becomes a not-so-secret alcoholic, ably unassisted by a life that was unfulfilling anyway. The father, the famous G.W. Pabst, who uses his passion for film making to shelter him.

Yikes. That got dark and frightening fast - and bugger all to do with the war. Hmmm. I don’t do ‘dark and frightening’ …

Scenes! He's writing scenes, as though directing a film, not writing a book and they're glorious. Everything shifts to suit the narrator of the scene although one might not immediately know who the narrator (main character/lead) of the scene is.

The first two scenes - extraordinary.

Daniel Kehlmann has perfectly - or so close to perfect that I cannot fault him - descriptively caught ‘age’ and ‘foreignness’ with an accuracy acuity I’ve so far not encountered in any other writer.

It matters not if I’m intrigued by the plot - the writing has me captivated.

At one point, I completely forgot that I was reading an ancient text. I was so immersed in the story, so carried along in the detail and the dynamics, that I had no sense that this was written some 2000+ years ago. Amazing.

Oh. Wow. I have a fascination with time, and this … this collection of imagined dreams that Einstein had about Time is absolutely captivating! I need to get a paperback of this, put it in my bag, read a dream and dream of that dream! :-)

Wow! It’s … well, beautiful! I was so scared to tackle this, and now I’m starting to get a measure about what people have been raving about!

This was meant to be a buddy read. A consideration for “Shall we read the Dark Tower series?” which is daft as I hate horrors and my reading time is already scheduled to the hilt. But years ago - decades ago - I read The Talisman, and loved it… so I start, and am immediately reminded of SK’s magic. Almost hypnotic.

Got through the introduction. I have to say I feel that was a worthy read. I have now started with the poem, and to my surprise, I am finding it easier and more palatable than I anticipated. In fairness, much of this may be because of the introduction.

Figured, *before* I start my *60 classics before the age of 60,* that I had actually better read the Iliad and the Odyssey, as so many other classics reference these two foundational texts/ poems

Still in the Intro - very insightful it is too.

I will finish this book, but only because I cannot for the life of me imagine how a book like this finishes. There has been in the latter third rare sentences, occasionally a paragraph, that is given me hope. That has given me sustenance, as a reader. But they have been rare. I think I shall be pleased that I have read this book, but I don’t think I will recommend it.

Now, suddenly, after a childhood, a marriage and finally a war, an ending of a war, there is a tone and style change. Because the memories are fresher? Because so much was lost? Now, it is not just the tangible but the intangible impressions that start to appear in the text. 66% - ye gods.

Am I fascinated, am I bored?
I cannot yet judge by that which I am reading, but only by whether there is any reluctance in myself to pick up the book each time and start reading again.

I honestly do not know what to make of this text. It is utterly unique.
But is it unique in a way that I like, or unique in a way I don’t like? I can’t say.

The will to live is packing its bags … I guess the one positive is reading something the likes of which I’ve not read before…

I'm losing the will to live; still waiting for the story to emerge from the foundations of family, extended family, friends and more friends... although there's a quiet increase in the reference of socialism and fascism.

This beginning, although different, reminds me of the struggle with Infinite Jest, of which one also needs to haul numbed ass and brain through the first 100 pages...

The dry, droll humour is tickling me no-end, but I am sorry it had to even exist in the first place.
I’m on Lecture/Essay Four and momentarily feeling like the engine needs more coal … (perhaps, in fairness, because she is currently writing on that which I am familiar with, whereas earlier, not so much so)
I shall persevere.

How is it that an author, in a crude 4-line children’s ditty convey a philosophical stance better than more learned people can in an entire tome… brilliant. Magic whilst doing no more than writing about the real. No wonder this book is celebrated.

Thank G I’m only at 63% - horrified this book might come to an end. Guess it will have to - that’ll be a sorry, sorry day. It’s the electronic version & ironically on a week I decided I’d be good and err more to the electronic… but when books are really good - great - I can get a ‘real’ copy. This is my first electronic read since this decision… and voila, paperback need be ordered. Typical & lovely

I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy re-reading this play. So many characters, so many undertones. It’s my first read and I don’t know the story but I am asking myself who the hell is Warwick, aside the son of Salisbury. Cheeky, bold chap!

Well, the author warns it’s a number heavy book, but once you get into the flow of it, there’s no denying it is fascinating! Then, once that foundation has been laid and you understand the importance of oil, he moves into the power and geopolitics - ramp up that “fascinating”!

‘Annoyingly’ curious - I have no idea where this is going! I’ve not annotated much yet - feel like an observer, albeit one not entirely sure what I’m (reading) observing …

Darn, nearly finished. I will be finished by this evening and I am curious, for I don’t think I’ve annotated any one fiction book more… Extraordinary read. Insights not just into the cultural mentality, how to steer a people, but also the weaknesses of the West. Fascinating. At this point, I feel the book deserves every accolade received.

I’ve a friend who now, finally, has been outed as a British spy, although he’d think that ‘title’ a little grand, and had great fun recommending this book to him - I think he’ll enjoy it as much as I. Indeed, noting I’m now some 47% through it I
(A) wonder at its end
(B) suspect I shall be sorrowed come the end, for reading it is joy!

Holy Cow - this is fiction, right?… staggeringly convincing.

Am currently, simultaneously, ploughing my way through “If anyone builds it, everyone dies” - interesting ideas; lousy writing - and this book, “Artificial Intelligence: a guide for thinking humans” is helping clarify some of the murkiness I’d struggled with.

DNF