The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

Tempy

I finished Acceptance, the much better of the two sequels to Annihilation (the other being Authority).

Authority was what it was, and it was a solid effort to approach the whole Area X thing from a different perspective, but not one that I found immediately engaging. Control is a bit of a cliched character and I wasn't really into the intricacies of the Southern Reach, which is something that Acceptance compounds by doing what Authority does, but better and more economically.

The final book is really great though, and getting through the whole trilogy is pretty rewarding. It teases out some great ideas and never lets down its defences and goes into full blown "here's the mechanics of this world" exposition, which is either great or awful, depending on your stance.

Dark Soldier

I'm preferring Authority to Annihilation tbh. The latter has better ideas but I'm finding discovering more about Southern Reach very rewarding.

Tempy

I didn't hate it but it was a big change. The ending is great I thought.

Lord_Griff

Been thumbing through Jack Kerouac, specifically On the Road. Lazily compelling with some nice flourishes. Most prbably doesn't stand the test of time, but must've been a breath of fresh air when initially released.

Bollockoff

Now, where is the use of allowing all those riches to lie idle, while half of that community hardly know, from day to day, how they are going to keep body and soul together? And, where is the wisdom in permitting hundreds upon hundreds of millions of francs to be locked up in the useless trumpery of churches all over Italy, and the people ground to death with taxation to uphold a perishing Government?

As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to the building up of a vast array of wonderful church edifices, and starving half her citizens to accomplish it. She is to-day one vast museum of magnificence and misery. All the churches in an ordinary American city put together could hardly buy the jeweled frippery in one of her hundred cathedrals. And for every beggar in America, Italy can show a hundred — and rags and vermin to match. It is the wretchedest, princeliest land on earth.

Look at the grand Duomo of Florence — a vast pile that has been sapping the purses of her citizens for five hundred years, and is not nearly finished yet. Like all other men, I fell down and worshipped it, but when the filthy beggars swarmed around me the contrast was too striking, too suggestive, and I said, “O, sons of classic Italy, is the spirit of enterprise, of self-reliance, of noble endeavor, utterly dead within ye? Curse your indolent worthlessness, why don’t you rob your church?"

Bollockoff

In this connection I wish to say one word about Michael Angelo Buonarotti. I used to worship the mighty genius of Michael Angelo — that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture — great in every thing he undertook. But I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast — for luncheon — for dinner — for tea — for supper — for between meals. I like a change, occasionally. In Genoa, he designed every thing; in Milan he or his pupils designed every thing; he designed the Lake of Como; in Padua, Verona, Venice, Bologna, who did we ever hear of, from guides, but Michael Angelo? In Florence, he painted every thing, designed every thing, nearly, and what he did not design he used to sit on a favorite stone and look at, and they showed us the stone.

In Pisa he designed every thing but the old shot-tower, and they would have attributed that to him if it had not been so awfully out of the perpendicular. He designed the piers of Leghorn and the custom house regulations of Civita Vecchia. But, here — here it is frightful. He designed St. Peter’s; he designed the Pope; he designed the Pantheon, the uniform of the Pope’s soldiers, the Tiber, the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Capitol, the Tarpeian Rock, the Barberini Palace, St. John Lateran, the Campagna, the Appian Way, the Seven Hills, the Baths of Caracalla, the Claudian Aqueduct, the Cloaca Maxima — the eternal bore designed the Eternal City, and unless all men and books do lie, he painted every thing in it! Dan said the other day to the guide, “Enough, enough, enough! Say no more! Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!”

I never felt so fervently thankful, so soothed, so tranquil, so filled with a blessed peace, as I did yesterday when I learned that Michael Angelo was dead.

But we have taken it out of this guide. He has marched us through miles of pictures and sculpture in the vast corridors of the Vatican; and through miles of pictures and sculpture in twenty other palaces; he has shown us the great picture in the Sistine Chapel, and frescoes enough to frescoe the heavens — pretty much all done by Michael Angelo. So with him we have played that game which has vanquished so many guides for us — imbecility and idiotic questions. These creatures never suspect — they have no idea of a sarcasm.

He shows us a figure and says: “Statoo brunzo.” (Bronze statue.)

We look at it indifferently and the doctor asks: “By Michael Angelo?”
“No — not know who.”
Then he shows us the ancient Roman Forum. The doctor asks: “Michael Angelo?”
A stare from the guide. “No — thousan’ year before he is born.”
Then an Egyptian obelisk. Again: “Michael Angelo?”
“Oh, mon dieu, genteelmen! Zis is two thousan’ year before he is born!”

He grows so tired of that unceasing question sometimes, that he dreads to show us any thing at all. The wretch has tried all the ways he can think of to make us comprehend that Michael Angelo is only responsible for the creation of a part of the world, but somehow he has not succeeded yet. Relief for overtasked eyes and brain from study and sightseeing is necessary, or we shall become idiotic sure enough. Therefore this guide must continue to suffer. If he does not enjoy it, so much the worse for him. We do.

Bollockoff

There is one remark (already mentioned,) which never yet has failed to disgust these guides. We use it always, when we can think of nothing else to say. After they have exhausted their enthusiasm pointing out to us and praising the beauties of some ancient bronze image or broken-legged statue, we look at it stupidly and in silence for five, ten, fifteen minutes — as long as we can hold out, in fact — and then ask:

“Is — is he dead?”

That conquers the serenest of them. It is not what they are looking for — especially a new guide. Our Roman Ferguson is the most patient, unsuspecting, long-suffering subject we have had yet. We shall be sorry to part with him. We have enjoyed his society very much. We trust he has enjoyed ours, but we are harassed with doubts.

acemuzzy

[citation needed]

Stopharage

acemuzzy wrote:

[citation needed]

Healthy chunk of Mark Twain.

Bollockoff

How dare the both of you accuse me of plagiarism.

Brooks

Book thoughts.

acemuzzy

Would read better in chunks of 140 characters

Lord_Griff

Give me the summary.

Bollockoff

Read Persepolis this month. Really solid autobiographical comic on experiences I have no casual experience with. Namely:

A: Being an Iranian immigrant in Vienna and dealing with culture shock and reverse-culture shock.

B: Growing up in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War.

I'd watched the animated film years ago and rated it. The source material is of the same quality and even the closet racists in our book club enjoyed it. Being initially French published it made me think of France having a history of this kind of quality life experience comic which got me remembering how much I enjoyed Guy Delisle's travel comics and I have just noticed he had something new out called Hostage about one of his MSF colleague's experiences as a prisoner of Islamic militants so I'll be having that.

Bollockoff

Started reading my next Calvino post-Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. I might still think it's a shit name by the time I get to the end.

It works with a gimmick in that it describes you as the principle character, reading the book. This was cute and a little infantile in the first chapter but then

The novel begins in a railway station, a locomotive huffs, steam from a piston covers the opening of the chapter, a cloud of smoke hides part of the first paragraph.

And it's like this is the Oculus Rift of books. Weird as fuck feeling reading this prose and not at all unpleasant.

Bollockoff

I bought Annihilation. I did it.

superflyninja

I finished Waking Gods, second in the series( the first being Sleeping Giants). I'm not a massive fan of the style the story is presented in (journal entries and interviews mainly) but at times it works well. I don't really feel much of an attachment to the characters and the whole thing feels a little cold. But it is interesting Ill give it that and good quick read.

I've started Annihilation now.

acemuzzy

So I've read a few things of late:
- The end of The First Law trilogy. Decent enough.
- Peril at End House. Standard Christie really - entertainingly written, with sneaky twist.
- Nutshell. Oddball McEwan.
- The Handmaid's Tale. Very intriguing, liked it. Now watching the show.
- The Dry. Pulp fiction really, pretty weak prose but I'll crack through it.

EvilRedEye

Currently spending 40 minutes waiting to buy a limited edition book from Waterstones and I'm rapidly starting to feel it is one of the most pathetic points of my life.

acemuzzy

What book what book

acemuzzy

Ooh book of dust is out today.

(Maybe it's that?)

EvilRedEye

Yes. Having a nice chat with the other queuers now.

acemuzzy

Interested to hear how it is. Loved the original trilogy, hadn't rigged this was out so soon.

Big Phil there himself??

I also saw the play version actually, which I enjoyed. Timothy Dolton in it. Film version, not so much.

EvilRedEye

acemuzzy wrote:

Big Phil there himself??

Nobody is here except us.

mistercrayon

Does the LE come with a gold weapon pack such that all weapons have the adjective gold?

Like:

Iorek raised his GOLD club before smashing the jar of peanuts.

Kernowgaz

It comes with a compass so he can find his way home .

I thought it was out tomorrow and my delivery of the book was a day early

Kernowgaz

There's also a bigger than normal sample on Amazon for the kindle

tigersgogrrr

I'm so fucking excited.

acemuzzy

Should I re-read the first three first?! Ages since I read them... How closely does this follow on?

Coincidentally, got Jesus and the whatever it's called on my bedside table at home - anyone read that? Worth it / not worth it?

Kernowgaz

acemuzzy wrote:

Should I re-read the first three first?! Ages since I read them... How closely does this follow on?

Coincidentally, got Jesus and the whatever it's called on my bedside table at home - anyone read that? Worth it / not worth it?

It's starts

Spoiler:

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