Nicolas Hromyk > Recent Status Updates

Thankfully the pace picks up at the halfway point

As expected in the 3rd book of such a series, Herbert is going all out on the strange and seemingly insignificant details of his universe. Way more moving parts and character introductions so far.

Slurs and the festival of San Fermin, what more could anyone ask for?

*driving by a taxidermist*
"Just one stuffed dog. I can take 'em or leave 'em alone. But listen, Jake. Just one stuffed dog."
"Come on."
"Mean everything in the world to you after you bought it. Simple exchange of values. You give them money. They give you a stuffed dog."
"We'll get one on the way back."
"All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault."

Reading this after Dune is giving me mental whiplash… Hemingway’s writing and dialogue is almost frantic, and always hilarious.

It was amazing champagne.
"I say that is wine," Brett held up her glass. "We ought to toast something. 'Here's to royalty? "
"This wine is too good for toast-drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with a wine like that. You lose the taste."
Brett's glass was empty.

Paul’s mental pontificating is *almost* exhausting

Joined a book club on substack (I don’t know how to feel about that statement now that I’ve written it out) in an attempt to branch out and diversify my literature intake… this is April’s pick, and it gave me a reason to go into my local library again for the first time in at least a decade 😅

Im beginning to understand why a good movie adaptation of this book (to say nothing of the series) is no small feat of artistry… and while I have to protest the modern bend towards race/gender swapping characters for the sake of mass appeal, Villenueve darn near did this book justice.

"Father," Paul said, "will Arrakis be as dangerous as everyone says?" The Duke forced himself to the casual gesture, sat down on a corner of the table, smiled. A whole pattern of conversation welled up in his mind-the kind of thing he might use to dispel the vapors in his men before a battle. The pattern froze before it could be vocalized, confronted by the single thought:
This is my son.

I will devour this.

The end is in sight.

“Consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?”

No Ishmael, I don’t and I hate you. I have been reading this amalgamation of ink and paper on and off for 23 days. Reading all 4 books in the LOTR saga took me 27. America did not need its own Dostoyevsky yet here Melville is, immortalized in this torture device of literature.

“God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates”

My brain revolts against almost every chapter, so exhausting is the language used and so insufferable is Ishmael and his mind. But there are some bars in here.

Barely had any time to read this last week, and of course the reading I did do was peak philosophical drivel. The chapter on cetology was the least offensive and dry in the seemingly endless expanse between the introduction of the crew and the final unveiling of the trip’s true purpose. I have a feeling there is but more of the same to look forward to.

“The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us. But being paid, - what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven.”

This will be a long read, but a fun one

I demand justice for Ghân-buri-Ghân and the wild men of Druadan Forest, absolutely vital to the salvation of Gondor yet not a peep about them in the film 😭

Faramir is such a chad holy moly

Finger lickin’ good, so far much more exciting to read than The Fellowship, although book IV promises to be slower…

The entmoot wasn’t as slow paced as I expected

Took 5 chapters for the Hobbits to leave The Shire, this just feels like the extended version of the extended films.

“If we can't sit still and focus for seven minutes, how are we ever going to sustain a relationship with a God that we can't see? A God who demands that we seek Him with our whole heart? … how often do we forsake communion with the Father for far less important reasons?”

“Love is not something we need to work for. When we forget that, we can get overly fixated on our own actions and become either discouraged or pridetul. If we're having a bad week, we might start doing things to try to make up for it and prove to God that we're really sorry. If we're haying a good week, we might subconsciously pat ourselves on the back for being "good enough." Ultimately, it's a vicious cycle…”

Re-reading this as adult just makes me want to take up smoking pipes, learn how to blow smoke rings, and tend a garden.

An entire chapter dedicated to the concept of elves as multiverse-hopping, ancient, and deceptive enjoyers of genocide.

“I think,” the vampire said calmly, “that you are wrong, Madam Vigo. The dream that the Witcher is dreaming, I humbly submit with respect, is an enchanting and beautiful one. But every dream, if dreamed too long, turns into a nightmare. And we awake from such dreams screaming.”

Last one of the series (discounting the prequel novel), and the font is much smaller. It’s kind of funny to see the books getting thicker and the chapters getting longer as you get further down the line.

The character interactions in this book are stellar, with a quality mix of extremely well written, thought provoking, and subversive companions to Geralt, and Monty Python-esque side characters that only serve as a deus ex machina or comic relief. I don’t think it’s a very good Witcher novel specifically, but so far a good read.