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I have read many introductions to philosophers but this is in my opinion the best I've read. If you want to not only understand the remarkable philosophy of Schopenhauer but also avoid the obvious pitfalls of any even modestly complex system of thought, then read this book. But be warned, it's not easy reading and it's definitively not condensed (465 pages).
In this unnamed city, to be interesting is dangerous. Middle sister, our protagonist, is busy …
Not sure where to begin... First, after reading some ten pages of this novel you discover the importance of the paragraph, for here they are few and far in between. So reading the whole thing (352 pages) is reading a wall of text. It's like a marathon and you never know if you'll be able to hold on until the next paragraph. Second the language is surprising. Like English at the time of Cavern man: Me husband, you wife, she older daughter, she middle daughter, them wee daughters. But allow me to quote her: "After a pause brother-in-law said he was going to beat him up all the same. ‘Not necessary,’ I said. ‘Still,’ he said. ‘Ach,’ I said. ‘Ach nothing,’ he said. ‘Ach sure,’ I said. ‘Ach sure what?’ he said. ‘Ach sure, if that’s how you feel.’ ‘Ach sure, of course that’s how I feel.’ ‘Ach, all right …
Not sure where to begin... First, after reading some ten pages of this novel you discover the importance of the paragraph, for here they are few and far in between. So reading the whole thing (352 pages) is reading a wall of text. It's like a marathon and you never know if you'll be able to hold on until the next paragraph. Second the language is surprising. Like English at the time of Cavern man: Me husband, you wife, she older daughter, she middle daughter, them wee daughters. But allow me to quote her: "After a pause brother-in-law said he was going to beat him up all the same. ‘Not necessary,’ I said. ‘Still,’ he said. ‘Ach,’ I said. ‘Ach nothing,’ he said. ‘Ach sure,’ I said. ‘Ach sure what?’ he said. ‘Ach sure, if that’s how you feel.’ ‘Ach sure, of course that’s how I feel.’ ‘Ach, all right then.’ ‘Ach,’ he said. ‘Ach,’ I said. ‘Ach,’ he said. ‘Ach,’ I said. ‘Ach.’ " Third, reading this book is heavy not only because of the said " wall of text" and length but also because nothing very rejoicing is happening in there. Deaths, violence, more deaths. This is not to say it's never funny, as showed by the above quote. But for all that I kept on reading till the end because she does an incredible job at making you feel what it must have felt like to live during The Troubles. Very soon you realize that this language has a function, it makes every event, every thought, every word something dangerous. And you realize that as she explains you had to think in layers, top of your head ( thoughts that could and should be seen and felt by others), middle head (not so safe) and bottom ( not to be disclosed under any circumstance). One of the most original works I've read in quite a while.
An agent of the British secret service gets jarred loose from his setting, and his …
No doubt the style is le Carré in his best days. English like no-one else can write it and it's rare pleasure to read.
Maybe I'm wrong but I think I can see why he didn't publish it during his lifetime. As said style is all there but substance is almost absent.
Like an exercise in style just for the fun of it.
The Great Swindle (original title: Au revoir là-haut) is a 2013 novel by Pierre Lemaitre …
Very good novel, well written in the style of a thriller. Makes you realize that war is not only the death of millions but good business before, during and after.
The work is based on a true story, the incredible corruption in the business of reburying the dead soldiers, and a fictional one, the selling of never to be delivered memorials monuments.
Qui connaît vraiment Alex? Elle est belle. Excitante. Est-ce pour cela qu'on l'a enlevée, séquestrée, …
Well written, short, staccato sentences that keep the pace constantly moving towards another twist. Not a great work of art by satisfying read nevertheless.
En créant le personnage de Zénon, alchimiste et médecin du XVIe siècle, Marguerite Yourcenar, l'auteure …
So much to say about this book. First I have not read the English translation but personally I think this work is impossible to translate in any other language. The mastery of French as writing material the way a composer masters music, combined with the beauty of it's use in this novel and finally the many levels of meaning make translation an impossible task. This one of the very few works that have been matured during the whole of an author's life and the sheer mastery of the result is humbling. And for those men who still think that women are not equal to man I dare you to read and understand any book by Yourcenar and keep thinking and saying this. I've read Memoirs of Hadrian when I was relatively young and that book has had a very deep influence over my whole life.
"A first, prize-winning work of suspense from the internationally acclaimed author of Soldiers of Salamis. …
Very long work (read the ebook but would guess around 500 pages) where the action is always interrupted by long literary digressions and the literary flow is cut in by sudden action.
Maybe just me because the book has lots of very good reviews on other sites.
All eyes are on famous prosecutor Teodor Szacki when he investigates a skeleton discovered at …
Not often I have the opportunity to read Eastern Europe writers and was very gratified reading this original thriller.
Slough House is Jackson Lamb's kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service …
Read the book after watching the series of the same name that just came out. Both very good. Granted not the complexity of John LeCarre but the style is something else. Herron's style is dripping " spy novel" and every sentence is a pleasure to read.
After being dumped and then winning the lottery, a woman in her thirties, along with …
Not many comments on this one.
No real story, just a lady stuck with a 4 years old child on holiday.
Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d …
Sally Rooney likes to play with fire. She writes an impressive quantity of words about nothing ( what some would call "bird brain" talk) but manages to slip in those incredible insights about life and relationships that keep you wanting more and keep you reading just as you're just about to quit . I'm usually not very tolerant of insignificant chatter but I have to admit that I was hooked in this case. And she achieves that in a very classical structure with an intro, a development and a conclusion.
I don't understand why so many readers have talken offence at the abuse evocations and other sexual content.
These things do happen in real life and not talking or writing about them doesn't make them less real. And it's not like she goes in lengthy details, she just mentions the fact that they happened. And she certainly doesn't give any indication that she approves them.
But what does get me is her style where she does go on details after details on the fly hitting the screen doors and it goes on and on.
Too many many details and endless narrations going nowhere.
I left after the first third.
Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a …
Connelly has always done good work and the results are reliable and predictable.
He had even found a way to iron out small quirks that kept irritating me such as lengthy descriptions of Los Angeles.
As usual I enjoyed this new book from him.
Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn …
Very well written with a vocabulary that does make you feel you're somewhere around 1160. But the premises of the novel are not very believable. For instance the hero, a 16 years old teenager doesn't believe in God. Don't forget that not only was the church back then very powerful and very present in everyday life (mass every day, many saints birth and death days were celebrated every week) but also science was obviously still in infancy which means that people back then didn't have obvious explanations for many aspects of life such as illnesses and natural events such as floods, forest fires, etc. Believing in God then was easy and not believing was not very likely. Add to that the fact the this young lady transforms an abbey from starting to super rich with nuns fighting and winning against villagers and you realize that this doesn't make for a …
Very well written with a vocabulary that does make you feel you're somewhere around 1160. But the premises of the novel are not very believable. For instance the hero, a 16 years old teenager doesn't believe in God. Don't forget that not only was the church back then very powerful and very present in everyday life (mass every day, many saints birth and death days were celebrated every week) but also science was obviously still in infancy which means that people back then didn't have obvious explanations for many aspects of life such as illnesses and natural events such as floods, forest fires, etc. Believing in God then was easy and not believing was not very likely. Add to that the fact the this young lady transforms an abbey from starting to super rich with nuns fighting and winning against villagers and you realize that this doesn't make for a very plausible story. If the work would have been meant as pure super hero fantasy this wouldn't have mattered. But that's not how it presents itself and not how I read it.
In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, …
Read the French version. So how do you react when you find yourself facing yourself literally, meaning another version of you, same DNA and same memories? Descartes' credo becomes " I think that I think therefore I am".