Eddie's Monthly

New year same me; we're gonna be looking at a couple of books and some manga as well.

1984 – George Orwell

On our ride back from New York City, the boys and I listened to the 1984 audiobook. It is not good. I had read 1984 previously and really liked it. There is no issue with the book, and since everybody probably knows about it, I will here complain about the audiobook. This was an Audible exclusive, and a “big budget” audiobook, as much as you can make one. This means it was over-produced to the point of being distracting from the story. Almost all descriptions, whether it is of actions or of dialogues, are removed in favour of sound effects or acting. This makes it quite confusing, as you kinda have to guess what actually happens in the book from sound clues. The whole audiobook sounds like it wants to be a movie, but without visual (no, I do not picture anything while reading either) it is just a noisy mess. The addition of music to build suspense doesn't ameliorate the situation. Going back to the acting, the main character is played by Andrew Garfield. I am a certified Andrew Garfield hater. Nothing against the guy (lie), but he cannot voice-act to save his life. Please, I'm begging you, I need one sentence that is pronounced clearly. He physically cannot do that. He cannot utter a sentence that is not whispered, part of an exaggerated exhalation, without performative stammering or god forbid, all at the same time. The fact that the whole cast is acted by different people, and the descriptions bring removed, make it a bit hard to figure out who's speaking when it's tertiary characters. The voice acted sex scenes were also excruciatingly uncomfortable; some people of the printhouse would be able to enjoy them I'm sure, but not us four boys in a car, not even 1 feet apart — let alone 5.

Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky

Also started listening to this book on the 9h-ish ride from New York City to Toronto, and unlike 1984, the audiobook was quite good. We didn't have a chance to go past Act 3, so I bought the book when I got home, as there were 29 holds on it at the library. This is how it goes:

The year is like 7000 and humans have conquered space. We have colonies on multiple planets and satellites of the solar system, we have also started terraforming. One of those terraforming project light years away is done and the next phase of the experiment is starting; trying to replicate evolution. Dr. Kern is sending down to this fresh planet some apes contaminated with a nanovirus supposed to accelerate their evolution — to a certain point. After this certain point is reached, humans will start colonising the planet, which will have been prepped for them by their new ape servants. Everything of course goes according to plan and nothing goes awry.

This was such a treat to read. The story is divided into three parts, and while some are more interesting than others initially, they soon converge and you get invested in all of them. I really liked how even if the story takes place over thousands of years and many generations you never get confused as the author has a great trick up his sleeve to keep things clear: he just reuses names and archetypes for generations. For instance, whether it's 200 years after the initial time of the book or 2000, across generations, the character named “Portia” is an adventurous soldier. This is some good-ass sci-fi, and really accessible too. No “he put the skalhad into the kjbfljba — held tightly against the gahdu with the use of some gahsywko from lkkoasl — so that the aljhbjhbsa condenser would allow him to go at JKH75N-pc/h, a speed never consocarded by any ahsdgaj of the himijahal — even those that had ahhsjdyw their hakd wieojf. The inhabitants of himijahal had ljbated the ljhbsjda after all, so there wasn't any chance the asdhuwj of the hadajkk would allow that”. Just some real sentences, with real words. Apart from the accessible writing, the premise is original and the story never gets predictable. The build-up is great and the pay-off is also well done; can't wait to read the second one (the two people before me on the library waiting list better hurry up before I track them down). The themes introduced and questions that the book raises are also compelling. It is neither a fantasy nor a war epic. There is a spaceship and science.

The Boy Who Cried Bear – Kelly Armstrong

For the synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: Finding my Book Twin

I'm not sure if I'm getting extremely tired of the series, or if there is something wrong with the book, but I really disliked this one. It is my second least favourite one in the series. The “mystery” is really half-assed and hinges on too many people being oblivious or things just happening — my suspension of disbelief was completely broken many times. It was not engaging at all. To me, it seems that the author has lost all of her steam and is just going through the motions, as a lot of paragraphs felt like fillers and everything is extremely repetitive. The paragraphs where Casey is doing some deducting — which sum up to “the guy said that, but maybe he lied. But also maybe he didn't lie. But also he could have lied. But then he could have not lied. But there are also reason for him to lie...” over and over, were really frustrating to read. There was a ton of overexplaining for things that really did not need to be explained, us readers aren't *that* dense (I am but others aren't) The initial confusion of the wild man for a grizzly bear also makes no sense: people saw in broad daylight a figure wearing a bear fur rush past them on two feet and thought it was for sure a bear. But the figure was close enough for a kid to see the man's eyes and even see their colour. Then Dalton (who's an expert forest tracker), finds prints 'that matched a bear', but when it turns out the 'bear' was a human they're like: “actually those prints make sense if it was a big man”. Casey, Dalton and Anders not figuring out that Joe is the attacker, Joe, who says he was just attacked by the bear-skin man, who has a stab wound on the leg, who was the only one in the forest with them and next to Max — even after Max said that a guy without a bear skin, who was stabbed in the leg just attacked him 2min ago — is wild. I have no words. The dialog still felt really unnatural and the Anders and Yolanda board game interaction was also incredibly cringe.

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

I swear, this is the last time I count this book in my readings, but I did read it again ok. The article for it has been resurrected, amended, edited, corrected, [insert word]ed, it's gonna be ready this month. Maybe I'll turn it into a presentation.

Selling Hitler – Robert Harris

In April 1983, a distinguished British historian, Hugh Redwald Trevor-Rover – First Baron Dacre of Glanton, gets an incredible call: Hitler's journals were found and the rights to them were to be sold at an auction. Although there were three reports — each from a different handwriting expert — as well as multiple historian assessments certifying that those were genuine, The Times would like him to investigate the diaries. He goes to Switzerland to see the journals in person, as well as the german journal selling them. All 58 volumes are there, with their provenance authenticated as well; the story investigated and verified. Trevor-Rover is not any old academic; in 1945, the British Security Services had asked him to find out what had happened to Hitler in his final hours; the myth that he was still alive — was living as a free man or had been captured, and anything in between — kept circulating. He successfully investigated Hitler's death, wrote The Last Days of Hitler, and afterwards became one of the foremost experts on Hitler and his entourage's writings — many times calling out fake ones. Well, after reading through a couple of volumes Hugh Redwald Trevor-Rover – First Baron Dacre of Glanton and former Regius Professor of History at Oxford is convinced that those are real. The news travels the world, and everyone wants a piece of the cake. Journals backstab each other, historians start feuding, it is chaos. An auction is quickly called in April of that year for the world rights to the books to be bought for 3.75 million dollars ($11.8M or CAD16.9M today). A truly incredible find, all this first-hand information, almost 40 years after the fact; a lot of events from the Second World War would have to be revised and recontextualised.

A couple of weeks after, the diaries were proven to be a grotesque forgery as the content made no sense, and the paper, glue and thread were all produced post-war. This book is about how this blatant swindle managed to go this far.

Readers might know that I usually dislike historical novels; I do not care for dates and places, and have a terrible memory of names and titles. I also don't know a ton about history, so events' significance often fly right over me. But this was so fun to read. While not as eccentric, I would say the book has strong William of Rubruck vibes. Someone is getting dunked on at all times, and you can feel the mischief in the air. The book spends about 300 pages building the stack of cards before it starts to fall down. And my god, is it entertaining. Just when you think that it's the end, something happens or someone says something and we're back. I loved how the forger never really did anything proactive, or actually never really did anything, and yet somehow everything just ended up working in the best possible way for him, even after he got caught. Apart from the fun part of the book, it was interesting to read about the reality of west germany after the war; journalists could just hit up some former big-shot SS general for an interview, and it was relatively easy to go to a party only to realise everyone there is a 'former' nazi. I had thought all those generals had been put behind bars, and that the 'former' nazis had at least the decency to deny they abhorrent beliefs in public.

HunterxHunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Greed Island: Chapters 143 – 186

B-b-biscuit, is that you?

The Greed Island Arc is over, and I didn't mind it at all. I don't think the highs are as high as the highs of the Yorknew arc, but it is overall more consistent and good. I also like how for once you see Gon and Killua actually training, and not the joke we saw in the tower of doom arc where they just had to try for 5 min and they got it. I also particularly liked the end of the arc and the dodgeball “fight”. The fight with the Bomber was also interesting. It does feel like the manga is taking a completely different route from the premise, and hunters or doing typical hunter things don't matter at all anymore. I don't dislike it at all, but it is a big disconcerting, especially with my criticism of the earlier chapters — I don't feel like my complaints have been addressed but rather retconned. I am really looking forward to the next arc as if I remember correctly it is H's favourite one and Tetyana told me it was very weird, and weird is good.

Nen does do everything though I'm afraid.

Good start to the year, a good historical book, some great Sci-fi — probably already a contender for my favourite book of the year —, finished reading all the available books of the Rockton/Haven's Rock saga, re-re-reread a book, and I got back into HxH. Selling Hitler was also actually a book from my backlog: my dad had lent it to me all the way back in 2021. I will now finally be able to give it back, only 4 years late. That is of course, unless someone from the café wants to borrow it (it is very funny).

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie

Another late reading report, I'm starting to make it an habit. In my defence, I had no access to the internet for my laptop, so I couldn't have possibly released it sooner. The backlog is done, and I've released all the articles I wanted for the year. While I'm catching up on other things that had taken the backseat due to the backlog, it's also the holiday season, so I have more reading time overall. Unfortunately, I had to spend it reading the monstrosity below:

Manic Pixie e-girl – Nate Lemcke

I have so much to say about that book, but as it is part of the bookclub white elephant, I will refrain to speak until we get the presentation.

Drawing the Female Figure: A Guide for Manga, Hentai and Comic Book Artists – Hikaru Hayashi

Not that much to say about that book, as it's mostly pictures, and it's also part of the bookclub white elephant. So again, I will refrain to comment on it until we get the presentation. I can't wait to see Oncle's drawings.

La juste part (The fair share) – Patrick Turmel

Neat little book. The main thesis of the book is rebuking that the disparity of capital ownership is moral. It often uses a philosophical angle, and debunks some common arguments meant to oppose redistribution. It also shows that the redistribution is not only morally just, but also beneficial to a society as a whole.

I found the book interesting in its arguments, but thought it was a bit shy in its criticism of capitalism. It also chose to debunk/support arguments that were a bit too obvious and easy. Yeah, obviously redistribution would be beneficial to a society, rather than having a select few hoarding everything. Yeah, obviously having people who own everything is harmful to democracy. Don't get me wrong, the book is decent, but maybe my expectations were for it to go further than: it's bad to have a society where the overwhelming majority of people own nothing, and a couple of people own everything.

Wind and Truth – Brandon Sanderson

The GOAT is back with a new entry in the Stormlight Archives, and this is the last book of the first arc. I will not provide a synopsis here, because the other four books before this are all 1100+ pages, and it would actually make no sense to anyone that hasn't read those.

This is the longest book I have ever read, clocking at 1344 pages, and honestly it was almost great the whole way through. It slowed down a bit between pages 900-1000, but then we're back. I really liked the direction that my boy Brandon took a lot of the characters in story-wise, and I was hooked to most story lines. One issue that I had is that a lot of characters have had plot lines resolved in the previous books, so they only have one remaining internal conflict left here, and it really makes most of them a bit too one-dimensional and one-note. The themes are also very ham-fisted, which I didn't really like at all. The one things that really took me out of the book for a little bit was the whole mental illness language used in the book by the characters; the societies in the books have no concept of mental illness, and suddenly now everyone talks with IRL mental illness sensitivities, using therapy appropriate language. It's a bit jarring for some characters.

As usual, the book is divided in parts, and between those are sandwiched some interludes. For once, those were a pleasure to read (I had some trouble with them in the previous volumes). The story is great and the world build as usual first class. We finally get some answers on the big mystery of the universe, but at the same time still get more questions. It's just good, but my man Brandon really need more editors, this book could have been much better written, and easily 200, maybe 300, pages shorter. It's good, but could easily have been great with more effort from the author.

Murder at Haven's Rock – Kelley Armstrong

Back to the Rockton Series, after having last read it in September. For the synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: Finding my Book Twin

We're back with Casey and Eric, in a new setting. Gotta be honest, I was kinda of a hater on this one. The formula is starting to show, and I don't like it. Casey and Dalton split up all the time, for Dalton to run into the forest cause his keen eye has caught something. He never catches anything (just like in the previous books), and by now they should have learned that something bad always happens when they split up. Another classic is Cassey (a god-damn great detective — or so I'm told by everyone in the book) never figures out who the bad guy/girl is until they are literally shooting at her or other people of the town at the end of the book. People behaving like robots, and unnatural dialogues are other classics that we can find here. Apart from that, the writing is still engaging, and fast-paced, not wasting our time. I do miss the town and its inhabitant, as they at least brought some interesting interludes between the investigations bouts. It's not bad by any means, it's entertaining as usual, but it's a bit too formulaic despite the change of setting. I hope for some more originality in the next book.

No manga this month, took a little break. But I still read a lot. A year of reading and I've got about 39 books and 667 manga chapters under my belt. Not too shabby. Apart from a couple of dishonourable mentions, especially the first book of this review, it has mostly been a blast. I feel like I am at a good reading equilibrium, between staying in my comfort zone, and being more adventurous with my readings. My backlog of books is as long as my arm, but I think I'll make a decent dent into it next year. I am in no rush. Happy New Year.

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie

I must apologise for the late (a whole week!) release of last month's reading. While they normally come out on the 5th of each month, I dropped quite the lengthy article earlier this month and needed a bit more time to finish this one. Without further ado, let's get into it:

Howling Dark – Christopher Ruocchio

You know what, I lied: I didn't actually finish this book in October, the last 80 pages plagued me all the way until mid-November. It was such a slog to read through. It's not bad, but it just really, really didn't click for me; I'd rather be reading the other Dune books (liem you know what to do, I'll even accept you moving to bluesky)

Mutual Aid – Dean Spades

That was a great little book. It introduces (in the sense “describes”) the concept of mutual aid and goes on to describe how a mutual aid group could work, and what the common issues with those groups are. It was a really interesting read, especially since it was so politically committed. While it doesn't go super far, some things that the book took as granted were just not the admitted reality of even many left leaning people. It was nice to just kinda be like: ok, that's the situation, where do we go from there.

Mutual aid is something that I found particularly interesting in “The Assassination of Fred Hampton[...]” which we read with the bookclub last month. Two great examples of mutual aid groups in this are the Black Panther breakfast program, which is also mentioned in “Mutual Aid”, and Jeff's law office (at some point in the office). People organically just coming together to make their neighbourhood or city a better place is something I found super cool. This is not to be confused with charities, or billionaire funded organisations. It's by the people, for the people, no strings attached.

Some aspects (and usual pitfalls) of mutual aid can also be applied in other situations, and in one chapter I was often drawing parallels between the organisation of the mutual aid group and that of my IT department.

Mutual aid is a cool concept, and its functioning is interesting to read here; don't hesitate to borrow my copy of the book.

Le droit de mentir (The right to lie) – Emmanuel Kant & Benjamin Constant

In 1785, Kant published Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals), in which — amongst other things — he touches on the illegitimacy of lying. In 1796 a quirked-up french swiss (then french) boy decides to critique Kant's position in his book Des réactions politiques (On political reactions). The next year, Kant replies in a text title Über ein vermeintes Recht aus Menschenliebe zu lügen (On a supposed right to tell lie). The biggest feud in philosophy ensues, which lasts until they duel each other, and also indirectly leads to the Franco-Prussian War (this is a complete lie).

This book only solidified my belief that the great writer of old are known for the idea within their work despite their shit writing. I am willing to give a pass to Kant, as german is pretty hard to translate so that's not on him — and my german is not good enough to actually read the original. But I'm sorry Benjamin, your writing is shit. A coma digression within a coma digression, within a coma digression...

Apart from that, the arguments are interesting and while I do not have a fully formed opinion on whether it is moral to lie or not, they did bring up some good points. One that I thousght made particularly good sense is that some people — by their actions or words — have broken the social contract and therefore do not have the right to the truth and are not entitled to the truth. Saying the truth to them is therefore no more a duty. This gets destroyed by Kant in his next essay, but the reasoning is still provocative.

Even if there is not apparent feud, it's still funny to see Kant trash talk Benjamin; Benjamin had not named Kant in his original reply, and only gave him the “a german philosopher” nickname — Kant goes hard on him for that.

Good little read.

Invisible Women – Caroline Criado-Perez

*trips, drops book which slide over to your feet, cover facing up* -Oops, I dropped my feminist literature, I'm so sorry about that _{(I'm 6'3” btw)} *bites lips*

For the synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: Enjoying unemployment by binge-reading

This book is collection of anecdotes showcasing the lack of data we have about women specific issue, but also about the impact of universal issue on women. It is thankfully not a very dense, indigestible and rigorous text, and is overall well written. There are very clear divisions of topics in the chapters and parts, which make the book very easy to follow.

There are some very good points in there, and for the most parts, the anecdotes are well chosen to illustrate and issue, without getting too into the weeds. We have a nice selection of topics from the workplace, home life, healthcare... One really good point that was made, and that I hadn't really thought about, is that by taking the average human and making decisions based on that, the result will usually leave women at a disadvantage. For instance, safe exposure to certain chemicals mostly depends on weight and metabolism, and taking the genderless average of both will make the maximum threshold safe for men, but still unsafe for women. Of the things that I would never have thought about, it's how the economy and it's design are favouring men and reinforcing the gender gap issue, especially when it comes to tax credits and monetary benefits. There are many anecdotes that are about things that I would not have though could afffect women in particular, because they seem completely unrelated.

With the book being written, or at least published in 2019, COVID is obviously absent from the topics here, and I would really have been curious about what a chapter of this book dedicated to it would have been like. There was not only a big healthcare issue with the covid crisis, but also a restructuring of society especially in the workplace, with the recrudescence of gig-work and work from home which I think would have been interesting topics.

Another one of my unmet expectations, and were the book could fall a bit short, is in the analysis of the anecdotes, which is usually very surface level, if there is one.

One thing I found odd were the citations. With a book this filled to the brim with info, there are many citations. While I liked that the citations were separated in chapters, the format of most of them really leaves to be desired; it's just urls. This made reading up on the topics I wanted to go deeper in extremely annoying — who enjoys typing a long url in the search bar? It also strange that those almost all directed to news articles, rather than the source that those news articles use.

As I've discussed, most of the anecdotes are relevant, but some feel a bit out of place in the book. Two in particular jump at me. One of the early one was about who Todd Howard, after showcasing the character creation menu in Fallout 4 during E3 2016 and pointing out that you could play as either a man or woman, decided to play as a man. I'm not too sure what the point being made is here but I found hilarious that it was included. Then some anecdote just might not have enough substance to warrant being included: I was particularly interested in the part where it states that VR headsets are not well suited for women, because men and women use/prefer different mechanisms to process depth — parallax for men and shape-from-shading for women — and VR priorities parallax. However, there were no citations in this book. When doing research, I could only find 3 papers related to the subject, all from long before modern VR was developed. None of those papers gave a definitive answer on whether men and women did use or even prefer different depth perception mechanism, as any results were not significant enough (high p value, extremely low sample size, issues with experiment design...). At least in this last case, that ties in with, and supports, the thesis of the book; there is clear a lack of data on how specific issues affect women. Not only that but there is a distinct lack of will to even attempt to gather data about women.

Hunter X Hunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Chapters 95-140

We continue the story and I'm glad we depart from the collecting money avenue to just do shenanigans or go on adventure. I liked the Yorknew arc, but I'm not too sure about the isekai one yet.

Going back to my issues with the manga; the argument that people who are actually strong don't bother with the small fries make sense (see Harrison's post on the café), but the characterisation of the tower of doom and the hunter exam still aren't super consistent in my eyes. Tetyana started to watch the anime and I caught a couple of episodes with her — and while it isn't fair to judge the manga based on the anime — just as I remembered in the manga they made the hunters out to be a big deal. Naturally, one could trust the magaka when he says that the hunter exam is the hardest exam in the world, and that is actually matters in the power structure of the universe. But it really doesn't and some characters could eat that exam for breakfast, which feels like the rug has been pulled from under me.

The story is still interesting, my fear is growing that nen is basically like stands/hamon now and it can do pretty much everything. I will report back on what extent later. Nothing has yet topped the fight between Uvo and the Shadows, maybe because I was still under the impression that HxH was bad. The symphony to Chrollo (where the troupe goes on a rampage) was sick. I was midly underwhelmed with the fight between Chrollo and Killua's father+grandfather. They had made Killua's family to be so goated that I was expecting more. Although I cannot complain about them being the strongest people in town anymore; they are getting bodied by the weakest creature of Greed Island. While they are strong, they have no idea how to use their strength. I stopped right when the Bomber reveals his identity, I think it's about to get hype.

no way they got a _gargaydar as their first card!

Not too bad this month, and I also finished my backlog! While you might think this means more time for reading, the holiday season is upon us, which means less time overall. I will do my best, but also, I won't try too hard. Also a little change this month, I switched from Typora to Obsidian to write this. Having the rest of my monthly articles available with a click is really handy. But I like the focus that Typora provides, being so bare bones, so I will keep using it for standalone articles.

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie

I WAS SO BUSY THIS MONTH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The Assassination of Fred Hampton – Jeffrey Haas

I was not expecting the angle to be: following the lawyer trying to bring justice to the murderers. I was kinda puzzled when Fred Hampton was killed, and we were only 10% though the book. Despite my surprise, this was a very effective way to show how the system was stacked against black people, and people trying to even nudge the racial status quo in the US.

Man, it was so depressing to see what the FBI and police got away with. Every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it just got worse. In the end, even if Jeff and associates won the case, it barely made a difference after almost a decade and a half.

The book was well written, but there were some times when the author was just name-dropping for 4 pages, and then acronym dropping... Not the most riveting, but you gotta put the context somewhere. I am incredibly ignorant about the justice system in the US, but it looks like an absolute joke. How in the hell do judges have so much power?!

It's also wild to see how different people/society was back then, and it only amplifies the common modern adage: “Nothing ever fucking happens [anymore]“.

Howling Dark – Christopher Ruocchio

My man Hadrian has had a lot of stuff happening to him. He and his pals are looking for something, but everyone in the empire knows this thing as a myth. Will he manage to find his holy-grail or will finding it even help him at all?

I still can't get into it. I have started this book and then let it sit on my nightstand for two weeks, without ever wanting to pick it back up. I know that means I should probably give up, but the story is good, it just doesn't click. We still have the Dune easter eggs, which are everything but subtle, like the adage from his mentor: Fear is the mind killer a poison. All of my praise from book 1 stand here.

Hunter X Hunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Chapter 51 – 95

All of my objections and criticism should be void/resolved with those chapters according to the Hunter fans. Let's review a tldr from my criticism of chapters 1-50:

• Killua and Gon are unnecessarily strong, and we don't know who or why. It makes it boring.
• Secondary/tertiary characters are here only to marvel at their strength.
• Some situations make no sense and are only there to showcase how strong Gon and Killua are.
• World building is completely destroyed just to show how strong and special those two kids are (the hardest exam know to man: it feels easy to two 11 years old, they even find it boring. The tower of doom and death, where only the strongest of the strongest come to duke it out: Killua climbed it when he was 6 years old.)

Does what happens in chapters 51-95 confirm the points above?

Point 1 and 4: Gon heals life-threatening injuries in one month, when the doc said it would take 4. Gon and Killua learn Gyo (a technique that takes years to master and yadi yadi yada) in less than a day. Killua can withstand one million volts. Killua has survived life-threatening situations since he was 3. I think my arguments still stand.

Point 2: We are introduced to more people, that actually matter in the story, and while there are still people on there to marvel at the kids' strength, we have other interesting characters (both protagonists and antagonists). This argument is invalidated

Point 3: There is nothing that I can remember that is even 10% as stupid as the weight incremented doors this time, so I'll say the argument is invalidated.

Half of my critiques of chapters 1-50 are thankfully not valid here, but my main complaints, point 1 and 4 still are. We will talk about it more later.

Some random notes: wtf, aura and nen is recorded by camera and computer code?! I hope it doesn't become like Hamon and stands in JoJo part 3 where, they could do everything. York New... really? Kurapika is a dude?! Wait, unlike One Piece, it actually gets good?!

You've heard correctly ladies and gentlemen, it gets good. When the POV shifted to Kurapika, I thought I was in for a snoozefest. She He barely had any development, and his red eyes just looked so gimmicky, like it was only there to get all the kids to think he's cool. I was thoroughly mistaken. Even the artstyle kinda changes and we get some great looking panels. The character building of the troupe and the fucking fight against the mafia's “super-strong” goons were awesome. We finally get characters that are stronger than the two 11-year-olds we've been following. And when it's time for Kurapika to fight the super strong guy, he prevails, but not because he's naturally gifted, or because he went to the locker room for 5min to practice and master a technique that takes 6 decades to even grasp. No, he's strong to begin with, but he would have gotten steam rolled, if not for the super particular technique with a specific sets of condition that would literally kill him if he misused it. Now that is an interesting protagonist, he's OP but only under a certain set of circumstances, namely against the troupe. Kurapika made it even clearer how flawed the kids' writing is.

I don't understand why the kids are made out to be so strong, even when it doesn't matter. And then why they have to be so nonchalant about the literal godly feat they perform. And why the hardest/strongest [insert event/person] known to man is beaten easily by a 6-year-old or 11 years old that are just naturally gifted, with minimal training — it just completely ruins the immersion and worldbuilding. What's the point? Why do the kids need to be so god-damn strong for no reason, they could have had a flaw or just be toned down, and the story would have been the same (but better imo). Technically, there are still about 25 chapters I need to read through that will completely alleviate my criticism (I hope).

PS: Announcing you got a kid in your manga; based.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie

I'm running out of time and I can't spare too much to read. My project — Humble Purge Act II — is near completion, and I just need a big push for the next two months to vanquish my backlog once and for all. I still managed to read a bit, two books, one artbook and 40-ish manga chapters, nothing to be ashamed of.

A Stranger in Town – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

That book was good. It goes even further in demystifying the hostiles, which is not bad per se, but the mystery was more intriguing. A couple of the least interesting plot lines are dropped, and the main plot is more consistent. Everything that was good about the others is here. I just really hated the ending, kept imagining a fucking plane-clown-car.

Empire of Silence (Suneater Book 1) – Christopher Ruocchio

Hadrian Marlowe, son of the very dreaded Lord Marlowe, is not doing too hot. His father despises him, in favour of his more lordly, but also more brutish and stupid younger brother. However, Hadrian can rest easy, by tradition the oldest will be heir to the House. But at the same time, Hadrian does not want to rule, or at least not like his father. His wish is granted, and after one too many rebellious acts, his Father decides to send him to the Chantry (clergy equivalent), to be part of the Inquisition. The Inquisition is a branch of the Chantry that will purge your planet of the heretics, or simply destroy your planet if it is deemed too heretical. Somehow, Hadrian is even less keen on doing that; is there any chance he can escape his fate?

Did you like Dune? Well the author does and the 30 or so first pages are literally just like Dune.

• Son of a space lord (who's related to the Emperor) with a signet ring signifying his rank — check
• They fight using personal shields that stop anything fast so you have to be slow to penetrate them — check
• The use of computers was banned by the Great Convention Chantry so you have human computers called mentats scholiast. Our main protagonist initially wants to become one — check
• The hero has two instructors/father figures in his swords master and more philosopher teacher — check
• The throne room is gigantesque but imperceptibly gets smaller as you get to the throne, making the throne's occupant more imposing — check

There is more stuff that I'm not putting down, but damn man, chill. The story thankfully becomes something more and strays pretty far away from Dune in content, but the writing is still pretty similar. I'm not sure why all the Dune references needed to be put in the first 30 pages. It's a good book, it may be great even, but for some reason I had some trouble getting into it, and it took me way too long to finish it, almost three weeks, which is entirely too much for 600-page book. The third book of the series is apparently a masterpiece, so I will push on.

The Deepest of Secrets – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

THERE IS AN INTRO SECTION SEPARATE FROM THE REST OF THE BOOK, AMEN. It might not seem like much, but this is such a quality of life improvement. There were the odd one or two paragraphs re-establishing relationships and events in the actual book, but they are completely manageable and didn't detract from the story. I like this one a lot, it was a nice break from the usual story structure we get from this series. Well almost, they faked us out, but it is still a nice change of pace. They dropped so many storylines and characters that were not as interesting in this one, and it's a breath of fresh air; everything is streamlined and nothing is fighting for its space in the book. Very solid and nice conclusion to this first part of the series. I'll probably take a break and only come back to Rockton in the next few months, can't have too much of a good thing.

This title kinda sucks ass though

Current ranking: Book 2>Book7>Book 3>Book6>Book 5>Book 4>Book 1

Disco Elysium Artbook – ZA/UM et al.

Yes, I pirated this as no copies are available — it only came with the collector's edition of the game which now retail anywhere north of 500$ on eBay.

Disco Elysium is an amazing game, where the writing is only rivalled by the visuals. I am not a very artsy person, and I still went out of my way to read an artbook. The writing is pretentious and smells of art students taking themselves too seriously, but they deserve it. The art is here to steal the show. Where I don't really feel either way for the character portraits, UI and set design, I fucking LOVE the artwork for the cabinet of thought and the skill portraits. I would happily get any and all of them and hang them in my living room (Tetyana would probably not let me). Below are my favourite skill portraits, one for each category, the though cabinet, etc.

The skill portraits are by Aleksander Rostov, the thought cabinet and horsey horse by Anton Vill

_{This is the original version that I like better, but couldn't find in high definition)}

_{I also love encyclopedia}

_{In the artbook, the painting is a bit different, with a black character having a knife on a white one, and vice-versa for the second pair}

Hunter X Hunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Chapter 11- 50

All the secondary characters are only here to marvel at how strong our two special little boys are, and further explain how what they are doing is sooo impressive. A bunch of stuff is setups just to showcase their strength, and makes no sense. A multi door with increasing weight, lmao what? Oh, and the 11-year-old kid being able to push 16 tons, come on. That same kid was dropped into the arena of death where only the strongest survive, with 200 floors of increasing difficulty — he of course made it to the top when he was 6 years old! Him and his friend Gon learn about a new technique that takes bazillion hours to learn, they get it in 2min. Then Gon intuitively learns another technique that even the masters of this art take decades to learn, and of course he does it on the fly! We just follow two Gary Stus around and it's not fun because there are no stakes. Nothing matters in the end — they are stronger than anyone they meet, and by a lot. If they aren't, they just have to think hard (for a day or so) about overcoming a challenge and they'll get it. The power scaling makes no sense, whether they succeed at a task or not is arbitrary.

I think the jury has deliberated; I just fucking hate shōnens.

PS: announcing that you got married in your manga; based king

That's all for this month, no planning on reading a bunch, next month, so it should be a bit lighter. I do have to catch up a bit on the Fred Hampton readings.

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie

7-ish books and 10 manga chapters; I was on fire this month. It's crazy what “having free time cause I'm on vacation and not working an 8 to 4 (which is really a 7 to 5 because of commuting)” does to a mf. Also, a whopping 62.5% of the books were provided for free by the library of Mississauga, which is today's sponsor! I have partnered with them to offer you a free subscription to the library system! They have thousands of books, ebooks, audiobooks, movies, tv shows, video games and more... that are accessible as soon as you subscribe! All you need to do — provided you reside in Mississauga— is to go to your closest library and ask for a library card. Enter the code “please :)” at checkout and follow their instructions to get your free library card today! Thank you so much to the Library of Mississauga for this generous offer! Make sure to check them out, link in bio. Back to the video article.

A Darkness Absolute – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

This one is much better than the first and it feels honestly almost completely different. The premise is catchy, and the investigation engaging. It develops the lore of Rockton and its surrounding in an interesting and intriguing way. And thank god it tones the romance all the way down, where it actually doesn't encroach on the main plot. I don't have too much to say; it's good. Some setups are a bit clumsy and you see them coming from a mile away, and don't really make sense (setting up Nicole-Jacob for example). Additionally, some of the interactions also feel a bit too “clean” and unnatural.

I can't remember if Matthias is introduced here or in the next book but he is bae.

If I must say something negative about the series, it would be that the titles are really forgettable, so I elected to give them another title: Book 1 is “The sheriff”, Book 2 “The hole”, Book 3 “The serial killer”, Book 4 “The marshal” and for now Book 5 is “The baby”

A DARK BSO

This Fallen Prey – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

Not as fond of this one, there are aspects that I really liked, and others that I didn't find all that great. The “is he actually guilty or not” of the main suspect was great imo in the beginning, as you cannot know for sure, and this was conveyed well through our main protagonist's frustration and flip-flopping opinion, and the town's tension. Then the father arrives and everybody is convinced the main suspect is guilty and that deflates the whole situation without any satisfying payoff. And the ending is very rushed and you get twists after twist that really make no sense. tldr: beginning was good, falls off towards the last third.

I liked how every time someone was having an evil monologue, Casey just went: – “Okay”.

Also Kenny actually might have a negative IQ

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

I guess I had to read this again multiple times to write the mini article. Nothing new. (The article is coming out soon I promise)

Yellowface – R.F. Kuang

You will have hear about this book by now; e-den reviewed it recently in From the study: my Q1 2024 reading roundup, and was pretty favorable. catcafe recently mentioned to me that she was not a big fan of it and that I should read it. I believe catcafe is in the process of reviewing it; you will have all three of our reviews to make up your mind.

I really don't know what to make of this book. The writing style kinda threw me off, it felt a bit too familiar and casual, like something you would write to yourself. In some parts, it also reminded me of people being racist while talking to me because they think I'm racist too since I'm a white man. It was uncomfortable. The whole time June was trying to justify herself was painful to read. Also she was anything but a consistent character. It felt like her character and opinions changed depending on whatever the story needed. I also found it weird how all the criticism against her was made by people who were kinda assholes about it, but were right. Does the author agree or disagree with those criticisms? Usually you don't portray all the people that are mouthpiece for opinions you agree with as assholes. It's even more confusing when the valid criticism levied against Athena were also brought forward by our main character and Dianne, the first being an awful person and the second just really hateful.

In summary, it was really entertaining but I didn't get anything out of it because I was confused about what points the author was making (other than racism bad, which was pretty heavy-handed). The ending was also less than satisfactory, it was like watching a train wreck in slo-mo, but the video cuts off before the train crashes.

Le Petit Prince – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

That is one of those book in France that they force you to read very early on, when you don't have any tools necessary to get anything out of it. It is a beautiful tale but I'm sure you have heard about it — if you have not read it already—; it's the second most translated book in the world after the bible and in the top 10 of most sold book. I am being purposefully very elusive about the book because it is something you should experience yourself and not through a review. I would obviously highly recommend you read it, it is a very easy read and is also very short (<100 pages). There are also pictures drawn by the author.

Perceval ou le conte du Graal – Chrétien de Troyes

An excerpt of the unfinished “Contes du Graal” by twelfth century author Chrétien de Troyes, focusing on the life of Percival.

I've always loved the Arthurian tales, but have read very little which I am planning on fixing at some point. I had read this in middle school but completely forgot about it. Following Percival “The paragon of innocence” (i.e. he's got the IQ of a lukewarm oyster) was really fun. He really do be stumbling randomly on the Holy Grail and is too dumb to actually do anything about it at the time. Based.

Watcher in the Woods – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

I didn't really care for the premise of this book, and found it to be a bit of a slog. People keep fucking escaping into the woods, having to be run after. There is too much going on for this singular book. I also found the relationship between Kenny and April to be so forced and cringe; their interactions were so unnatural it took me out of it completely. It's like everyone has 3 hours to craft their next line and use the right words, and people reacting in the best possible way. Everyone has the most sizable emotional IQ and it's just not realistic.

It's not all bad though, the writing is still good, the actions scenes specifically, the relationship between people are explored appropriately (usually), the diverse mysteries surrounding the lore of Rockton are still intriguing... It's always easier to talk about the negative than the positive.

Alone in the Wild – Kelly Armstrong

This one is a mix bag, everything that was good in the other ones is there, but there are some things that rub me the wrong way:

The catch-up section appear until like page 65, it's the fifth book; if people come on board now it's their fault for not understanding — I think those catch up sections are super clumsy and not necessary as they really hamper the pacing.

I hate the founds baby trope.Thankfully at the end they don't get to keep it, but it was nagging at me the whole book.

In this one the actions scenes lacks a bit of weight; they have a very serious and potentially deadly encounter and a millisecond after it's resolved they just laugh about it and are all casual.

Casey consistently does some dumb shit. Dalton just told her that the man she encountered is a serial stalker and rapist and dangerous man and is interested in her, and that same night while they are super close to that man's camp she just goes out alone in the dark with only her dog to check on a sound. She had heard someone/something rummage through their camp. She doesn't wake up Dalton, and he could have just been killed in his sleep by hostiles or any settler.

Speaking of dumb shit, the dogxwolf romance is just completely out of place and makes no sense.

Also, while we're on the hostiles, although the mystery is not yet completely solved, what we have so far is very underwhelming. The mystery was more exciting than the reveal.

The book is good overall, but those little things do lessen my enjoyment of it.

I feel like I'm being overly negative in this series, but I assure you it is not bad. I wouldn't subject myself to books that I think are bad. It's just that it is easier to pick out flaws in something that is good than in something that is bad. Although I do not usually give ratings, this series would hover at around a 3.5-4/5.

Current ranking: Book 2>Book 3>Book 5>Book 4>Book 1

Hunter X Hunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Chapter 1-10

Harrison, avert your eyes.

Ah yes, the 11-year-olds that are literally the strongest of the strongest in the world at that young of an age, but they're just regular kids without anything special, like training or supernatural talent. They low-diff the hardest exam known to man. They're also very nonchalant about it — so cool (sarcasm). This is my pet-peeve with any work, but it is especially present in shōnen; having a kid/protagonist who's super strong, fast, talented, literally one of the most powerful person in the world.... without earning it, and then acting like it's no big deal. It is lazy, and honestly boring. The drawing style is good and the character design is also good (master art critique here); you can easily tell at first glance who is who. The panelling is comprehensible, I was only confused once, but it might have been my fault. Despite the annoying “super-kid” trope, the story is good so far, and might even be original once it picks up.

I'm not far along this manga; if I gave One Piece the benefit of the doubt for 430 chapters before abandoning it (and it was ass), I can give this alleged peak shōnen more than 10 chapters.

I'm back to work so I won't be able to read as much going forward, and I'm about to start a second job in less than a month, but hopefully I can keep up with a few books each time. I do also have to pick up the pace on my Humble Purge; I have been slacking off the past two months, and December is just around the corner now...

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie

Still doing good this month, two books, one essay and 54 manga chapters. There is also no Dune this month; I too am protesting against the treachery of a certain t*itter user. In any case, without further ado, let's get into it:

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

When I bought Brave New World last year, it came with an essay that the author wrote in 1959, when the original book had come out in 1932. In it, he goes over the thirty or so years since the publication of the book, and compares the present with his past version of the future. He says he was spitting, and that he was more right than he could have ever imagined. Was he? Well I have dissected this essay, which sometimes include tangents that are more akin to non-sensical ramblings, and you will get the answer in a future mini-article.

Keeper of the Jewel – Richard H. Stephens

The Southern Kingdom, home of the elves is not as united and peaceful as it seems. Alerted by the Fae that something is stirring, the Queen sends her daughter and only living child to be trained in Highcliff, home of the High Wizard. Not only does the High Wizard reside there, but dragons and wyverns — and their riders — are also stationed there to protect the Crystal Cavern, making Highcliff one of the most, if not the most, secure place in the Realm. The Princess that has been sheltered her whole life is in for a rude awakening, especially as her death would be the easiest way to destabilise the kingdom...

This book is the first in the prequel series of “Soul Forge” by the same author. This is the Ren Faire book. For those unaware, some of the good people of the café went to a Ren Faire earlier in July (which was sick btw) and while meandering the booths, my eye caught the stall of a writer. I was intrigued, and went to talk to him. He explained his series, and I picked up his starter book recommendation which is the first book of the Highcliff Guardian series, Keeper of the Jewel. Of the Soul Forge Series (his main baby), this is the farthest back timeline-wise. He did warn me that he was still a younger author, and that his writing would improve as the series go on (his wife's favorite book is the fourth one of the Highcliff Guardian series). What are my thoughts on this book? Well you'll have to read my upcoming mini-article about it to find out! (I will keep getting away with).

Dungeon Meshi – Ryoko Kui

Chapter 43 to 97 (the end)

It's so good. The story is great, the character design is goated, the pacing is good, the ending satisfying and I've even heard that the lion is fuckable. There is not much I can say other than read it, but most of you have already done so.

City of the Lost – Kelly Armstrong

I am always eyeing our resident bookworm Elisa's Reading Roundup's 5/5s, to see if there is something that would be my cup of tea. Considering the number of books she reads, a 5/5 from her is anything but meaningless. In her penultimate Roundup, I spotted “City of the Lost” the first book in a mystery/thriller/investigation series that received 5/5 almost all around. Sign me up. For the synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

I was not as entranced as Elisa with this first book and would only give it a 3/5, but to distract you from this fact I would like to announce that this was my first book borrowed from a Canadian library, in other words, I got a library card and am supporting my local library!

Firsty, let me say that the book is good, but there are some somewhat minor flaws that took me out of it, spoilers ahead. The first one is the way Casey is setup: she is ultra-rich (her parents passed and left her with a 7-figure inheritance), she's wicked smaaaht (her IQ is 135 — it is mentioned twice in the book), she's a great detective (it is mentionned never shown) and to top it off, she's really attractive. I have no problem with the main character being a bit OP, but she is just too perfect and it is hard to find her relatable/compelling in the beginning. The odd part is that it is unnecessary; she never uses her millions of CAD, and once she is in Rockton it doesn't matter anyways cause they only use credits. They also could have just said she was smart; being a great detective implies it, without shoving IQ scores at us. This also ties in with how off the character introductions felt like in the beginning of the book: a couple sentences after we are introduced to Beth, she casually humble brags that she has a pHoTOgRaphIC memory. First off, photographic memory is a myth and the single most annoying trope ever. Second, it is never used, she never uses it in the entire book, so it is also unnecessary and makes that characters also not feel real. The mentions of IQ scores and pHoTOgRaphIC memory really ticked me off, and to be fair, it's only an issue for the first 50-75ish pages of the book, and not an issue at all in the second book.

My second main issue is with the romance. I will admit that I am usually not very fond of romance in my media when they are the main focus. But here we were sold with a thriller/investigation with maybe a side of romance, but that side really is taking too much space in the plate. There is absolutely no mention of romance in the synopsis and yet the whole later two-thirds of the book are mostly about the relationship between Eric and Casey, and maybe Anders too (yes, there is a faint love triangle). I wouldn't have minded it if it didn't take so much time away from the investigation, which I was really invested in. But the investigation takes the backseat most of the book, and the resolution is less than satisfying and comes out of nowhere. I'm also not a big fan of Eric, “brooding guy™” who talks with his fists (because the most you can get out of him otherwise is a grunt) and only understands violence, but becomes a clueless baby/bumbling fool around Casey (not understanding jokes when he was doing fine with finer language thing before/running out butt naked in the forest in the winter against a fully prepared assailant). Eric is a compelling character, but his development goes out of the window when cute/romantical/white knight moments need to be setup.

Now let's rapid fire all the positive aspects of the book, as it would take too long to go in depth, to end on a good note: the pacing is great, the setting — Rockton — is interesting, the premise is original, the characters for the most part are well written, the writing in general is good, the balance between keeping the mystery and revealing all your card is perfect, it was an easy read without feeling too simple or lacking complexity...

Lastly, fuck Diana.

Alrighty, that's it for this month. I will be exiling myself to France for two weeks next month (unrelated to badmouthing one of Elisa's 5/5 books), but you can expect two small articles on the book and essay I've read here. As I'll be back at my parent's place, I will most likely bring back a couple of books from my bookshelf, and mangas too. But I'll be busy, so don't expect too big of an August Reading.

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie

We're back in business baby! 6 books and 40 odd manga chapters this month. Granted some of those books are on the smaller side, but I still read'em. I took my foot of the backlog gas pedal, and made a bit more time for reading. Without further ado, let's get into it:

God Emperor of Dune – Frank Herbert

THE GOAT, THE GOAT

This book being set 3000 years after the last one, we were leaving the Paul and kid's story, and I wasn't sure how Frank was gonna keep us interested. I forgot that he was the goat, and this is my favorite book out of the four by quite a lot. Of course Dune is iconic, Messiah is a really interesting change of tone, and Children of Dune a great end to the Paul and Co arc, but this just takes it a step further. I love reading about the God Emperor's thoughts, his inner monologue, how he's so ahead of the game but at the same time how he is so bored that he will let a bit of chaos in from time to time just to be amused. World building is as interesting as always, characters are well written even if our main boy takes most of the screen. I will definitely read the other two book, as long as Liam stays away from twitter (delete your new account 🔫).

Le Treizième Guerrier (Eaters of the Dead) – Michael Crichton

Some of you might recall that the entirety of one of my earlier article was solely dedicated to the dissing of Michael Crichton. I really don't like his writing style. While he can usually find cool premises, the way he treats characters and how the plot contrivedly unfolds is not my cup of tea. When I went back to France, I talked about it to my dad, who enjoys Crichton, and he gave me a couple of books of his to change my opinion. This is one of them.

I enjoyed this book but there are some big flaws with it. The book is a patchwork of the accounts/journals of Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāshid ibn Ḥammād (shortest royalty arabic name) and of a retelling of Beowulf. The way the two are linked is pretty clumsy, using a very convenient prophecy™. The retelling of Beowulf from an outsider's perspective, namely, Ahmad ibn Fadlan is really interesting but this could have been achieved by any other means. The account of Ahmad ibn Fadlan before he joins Beowulf on his expedition are boring; he went here, we stayed for two days, we met those guys.... Without any substance or anything of note happening, it reads like a boring report. The Beowulf tale is entertaining, but it looses the “epic” of the original, but on the other hand the outsider bit is interesting for a while. But of course because it's Michael Crichton, everything has to be based in “science” therefore Grendel is actually multiple people, and those people are just Neanderthals that didn't go extinct! bruh. Also, I hated the obsession of Crichton with the vikings having sex with everyone, which he writes it as “possessing” women. yuk

La Métamorphose – Frank Kafka

Dude wakes up as a insect, no chaos ensues

I have the bilingual edition of the book, in french and german (its original language), and planned to read the original with the help of the french — if I was having difficulties. Needless to say that my barely conversational german, which I haven't practiced in 5 years (apart from deciphering memes on ichiel) was not enough. The book is short and there are five thousand possible interpretations or analysis of it. Even I, a french idiot with 0 media literacy, was able to find a couple. There is not a lot to say here, it is a well crafted story. (sa fé rèflaichir🤔)

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Dude, it's like in civ!!1!!1

We're in the 26th century and society as we know it has changed quite a bit. Henry Ford meatriders have taken over the world and implemented enormous civilizational change in those few centuries. We follow around a few people who do not feel at completely home in this new civilisation, and who meet someone who somehow escaped being brought up in/by this civilisation. What will happen when they bring him back?

That was a strange book. Chapter one and two are utter gibberish. Chapter one reminds me of the most opaque SF books; throwing new words at you five times a sentence (my favorite one being bokanovskification). Chapter two's formatting is just unreadable. However, after reading those few pages, the writing settles down and we get a clear story. The pacing is good and I was invested enough that it took very little time for me to finish. We are offered a wildly different totalitarian regime than in 1984 here (because of course I have to be original and compare the two books); where 1984 is more “the boot”, Brave New World offers a “bread and games” approach to it. Although weird, I enjoyed the book. I hated that they described some women as “particularly pneumatic” 🥴

Candide – Voltaire

I had “read” it in high school (read a summary online cause I couldn't be bothered + french class made me despise reading) and I still remembered how silly it was. This is Voltaire so you know it's just gonna be criticizing people and institutions left and right and everyone will catch a stray. We follow Candide's adventures from his castle days until he retires in a small farm in turkey. As said before, it is silly all around, there's constantly stuff like: the duchy of Bukring Welchafen declared war to the chiefdom of Fundertürentrock, 10 000 died; the border changed by 5m. It's a fun read and it contains the famous “Il faut cultiver notre jardin” (One must cultivate one's garden); most people can't agree on its meaning (maybe it's a final troll from Voltaire; there is no real meaning but it sounds philosophic).

Standing in the shadows of Motown – Allan Slutsky

I've been trying to be a good boy and get back into bass more seriously, and after seeing many recommendation from bassists for this book, decided to pick it up. It follows the life of legendary (yet relatively unknown) session bassist (although he also played live) James Jameson. For those who are not familiar with music recording, a session player is the player who actually plays on the record. A main entity of this story is Motown, a black owned Detroit record label of the 60's that specialised in its own sounds, the “Motown sound” (think Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Four tops...).

The book starts with a biography of James Jameson, who is heavily intertwined with the history of the Motown label. He lead a pretty eventful life which had its share of ups and downs. It's kind of crazy to read that one of the most prolific session bassist of the 60's could go completely uncredited for most of his contributions (they just didn't do credits for them at the time). This definitely played a part in his future self destructive habits, amplified by alcoholism. There is a bunch of sheet music in the book that I'll have to decipher and play (if I can), but overall, I'm done with reading the “word” part of the book. The rest is partitions with some commentaries, I'll play them in due time as I am getting more serious about bass. Overall, the book is good and it was interesting to read about the music scene in the US in the 60's and onwards. I wish there were more comments about the relevance of Motown in African-American culture (or vice-versa), but the author is a white boy, and although the influence of Motown is mentioned as well as a very brief mention of the Detroit riots, there is no insightful commentary given.

Dungeon Meshi – Ryoko Kui

Chapter 1 to 42

Prior to dungeonclub forming, Tetyana and I had watched the first three episode of Dungeon Meshi on netflix and were digging it but our access was then cut-off due to IP restrictions. Damn you netflix!

In any case, I really like the manga. I love the art style, it looks so “soft” and satisfying (idk i'm not good with words). The characters are great, their relationships are believable and have depth. The monsters are cool and I love the attention to detail to make each of them edible. I think the concept of showing how adventurers would survive in a dungeon/on adventures is great, in some fictional settings, I've always wondered how the regular folk actual make it (for instance in the Dark Souls games).

I also liked how the initial arc doesn't drag on for an obscene amount of time. They have their goal and the always move towards it, without getting sidetracked by filler side quests that last for way too long. Overall, I loved reading it and I can't wait to read more.

There is no way I can keep up this reading pace next month, as you guys are organising way to many things that I want to attend, but I'll do my best.

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie

I honestly did pretty good in May, three books and a few dozens manga chapters, not bad. I am still in the middle of finishing my backlog, which takes a lot of time away from reading. I am enjoying myself doing it so I have no desire to take time away from it to read for now. Peak incoming as well as some hate.

Dune – Messiah

Peak

I remember reading Dune messiah back when I was around 14-15 and not getting it. I didn't dislike it, I actually don't mind reading something and only being transported by the vibes, but I didn't get a good understanding of it. As a whatever-year old, I could not understand just being stuck in the past as well, as resigning yourself to the future, and being absolutely done with the present. A chill depressive episode and growing tired with adult life later, I get it. This book has a totally different meaning to me now, and I like it a tad more than Dune. Paul and his ruminations are my favorite part, but I also like that everybody is playing 16D chess, but also knows that everybody is playing 16D chess, so they're also playing checkers on the side. The tone and atmosphere are just so different from Dune but also make a lot of sense as a follow up. For some reason it reminded me of the part of Beowulf (the 2007 movie, not the poem) after the time skip.

The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follet

Tom builder and his family have been out of work for a while, and a succession war rages on in England. Not many people need a mason in these trying times, and Tom's savings are running low. We follow them throughout the decades and see how war affect them. We also follow the life of Father Phillip, how was just called to improve the situation in a decrepit priory. Will he be able to set it straight? Aliena, the daughter of a nobleman, is living carefree while being pursued by many suitors including William. Will the war get the better of her attitude? Finally, Ellen and Jack are also not that affected by the war for now, as they live in the forest, but can they keep going with this lifestyle as more and more bandits roam the woods?

I needed a big book to read while everyone was finishing up Dune Messiah, and I had this one in my library for a while after thrifting it in first year of uni for 2$ (4563.93$ today due to inflation). I had seen the mini tv show about it went to came out in 2010, but my memory was really foggy (it was 14 years ago after all). This is a long book, as long as Dune, but the pace is good and I therefore was kept interested throughout. There is only one arc in the middle of the book that slowed things down and was a bit out of place. There are however many arc in this book as it takes place over 50 years or so, and seeing all the characters grow up, but also the towns and villages evolve was really cool. It was really entertaining all the way through and was a really convincing peek into day to day english medieval life (I know nothing about it and am therefore easily convinced). I love how ruthless the author is with the characters, and whenever you think their situation couldn't be worse, they are just kicked while they are down. On the contrary sometimes they will devise bold plans, and execute them, manipulating a bunch of people, which are entertaining to see unfold even if they are not successful. The only issue I had with the book is how one character weaponised r*pe — it is described twice in more or less detail — but every time it was mentioned, it made me wildly uncomfortable. The relationship of the men in the story with “carnal pleasure” is a bit weird, and is also focused on which I found odd; I can only read “stirring in the loin” so many times before getting weirded out. My favorite character was Phillip, who was a refreshing chaste and good character in the cesspool that was the average medieval person. Unless you have an issue with reading about intimate stuff, especially r*pe (it is not romanticised at all), I would recommend it.

Children of Dune – Frank Herbert

PEAK

I would say the beginning of the book is maybe a bit more accessible than Dune Messiah, but around the latter half, it gets pretty weird. It takes place 9 years after Dune Messiah, and it reminds me of it a lot. We start by having a diverse cast of POV through the chapters, and then we focus more on Leto II. Stilgar's character is very interesting in this one, and so is Alia, who steps a bit more into the light. Another character makes a reappearance, and I was jubilating when they were introduced. I won't say too much about the book as I know some people want to read it, but it is my favorite out of the series so far. I saw a lot of similarities between this book and book III of Dune, which was my favorite part (about equal with book I). I just started God Emperor of Dune so we'll see how it compares.

One Piece – Oda-san

Water 7

Oda, my brother in christ, do we need a giant close-up of someone's face crying/yelling every chapter? Also, the constant yelling of attacks, which is unnecessary and takes half of each panel is annoying as hell. It makes some of the action really hard to follow. The trope of “I can only survive one more attack, I'm on the brink of death”, and then surviving sixteen finisher moves from an adversary is so overplayed, and not interesting. The story is sorta cool sometimes but, it's not enough to keep me reading. All of the criticism, I pointed out here is valid for most of the manga. The way they build up the villains — have murk the heroes, no diff — and then without the heroes having time to recover, yet improve, having the villains be defeated because the plot demands it is very lazy. The Gear stuff was cool, but the downsides to using it are some small that Luffy might as well be overpowered all the time. After reading 430 chapters, I feel like I have earned the right to this critique, but most importantly to drop it. As the friend that asked me to read it said: “If you still aren't liking it at this point, you'll never like it. Also, as moncrief pointed out, maybe I just don't like shonen. After joining the bookclub in reading dungeon meshi, I'll try to read HxH which is apparently peak shonen. We will have a definite answer then.

This marks the one year anniversary of when I started publishing my monthly readings! ~37 books and 430 manga chapters in a year, not too shabby. Tetyana and I have been planning on getting our library cards forever now, but we'll get to it eventually. With this — and being done with my backlog in December — I should be able to enjoy more books per month.

It feels nice to be liberated from the shackles of One Piece, that I started in September last year.

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie

Yeah, I was very lazy this month in terms of reading, and put more energy into purging my backlog, with the project reaching it's halfway point.

Dune: Book II & III- Frank Herbert

What can I say, you all read it, it's goated. Although I loved book I, book II was a bit less to my liking, but book III is my favorite. The ending of the book isn't satisfying though, and I find myself wanting to go through Dune messiah right away. I am planning a presentation, which might take a bit of time to prepare, but it requires everyone to have read Dune Messiah (or be fine with me spoiling the ending).

One Piece

Skypiea Arc

I wasn't completely done reading through the arc last time around, but reading it completely just comforts me in my opinions. Oda-san should have introduce the characters before all the shit went down, because to me there was no stakes as I did not know who anyone was, or why I should care about their demise. Having the flash back (which is btw my least favorite form of exposition, especially if overused) right at the end was a real waste imo.

Long Ring Island Arc

It's fine. I liked that it was self contained, and introduced some characters for later arcs, while having them not being super relevant there.

Water 7

What a palate cleanser. After the drag that was Skypiea, it is refreshing to have something that is setup properly. Can you imagine if they had the big reveals and all the action first, and then introduced people and why they matter? It would have been ass, and that's why I dislike Skypiea. No, here stuff is setup properly, but it doesn't mean that Oda-san reveals his whole deck right away. There are a couple of things he keeps hidden until the last minute for dramatic reveal. But the stakes are already there and the reveals are here to reinforce them. Franky is cool, but I hated the manufactured drama within the crew (looking at you Usopp).

I should be done with my mandatory One Piece reading next month, which means more room for books, which I am looking forward to. I have a backlog of books I already possess but haven't read as long as my arm, so I have enough to keep me busy.

Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie