Agree with the others that Tolstoy is the obvious recommendation. Both Anna Karenina and War and Peace are excellent, I’d probably start with Anna Karenina.

Nice, surprised by the strength of the chest with a sticking point that high in the movement. I feel like if I get stuck its usually much lower.

Curious about the safety straps, wouldn’t you want the high side to be near your head/chest so the bar rolls away from you? As it stands it looks like it would roll into your body.

I do like the uncertainty aspect. Is the land real or not, is Covenant justified in his unbelief and what does that mean for his actions? All interesting questions. I just wish the narrative vehicle was less clunky.

I agree that some of the elements I’ve criticized are intentional; I’m not entirely convinced that excuses them. The books are not really only from Covenant’s perspective, there are other POV characters. The “side quest” I mention is especially illustrative since its a quest Covenant explicitly refuses to get involved with and is then told by another character in retrospect (with characteristically little detail). Many of the major battles Covenant isn’t even present for and we get another POV character or the omniscient narrator.

So while I agree that the central plot device and the associated moral questions are definitely intentional (and effective), I don’t think the narrative style or lack of atmosphere can be excused in the same way. I’ve no doubt the books were ahead of their time and influential (and I’m glad I tried them for those reasons) but I don’t think they hold up very well. If you do re-read, I’m curious what you think.

From what I read they were quite popular at release but seem to have really fallen out of the zeitgeist. Probably in some part due to these issues, there’s just better books available to new readers.

Lord Foul’s Bane - Stephen Donaldson

Heard of the Covenant series for a long time, never got around to it before now. Seems OK, doubt I’ll read all 10 but we’ll see.

Great entry, especially with today’s words. Moist 🫣

This article could do with a lot more exposition. Its an interesting topic but they give no detail and I have no idea how to interpret the images they present.

Nice work, the puzzle changes each day so you probably had different words today than what I showed in the link

Very well!

This is a really cool book. I don’t think it’s particularly unique in terms of its structure but the concepts it discusses and the parallels it draws across fields are worth thinking about.

The question is not whether a peasant could be an interesting character. Obviously they could. A talented writer could make almost anyone’s life compelling. The question is whether that perspective serves the story being told.

ASOIAF is a story about political power. The people who have the ability to affect those outcomes are the obvious focus.

A peon’s POV would be telling a different story and shift the focus from the people competing to the people living with the consequences of the competition. That could be a great novel, but it would not advance the retelling of the dynastic struggle for control of Westeros.

This is why I asked why you find the absence of lower-class POVs surprising. It seems like an obvious consequence of the scope and focus of the story.

Clean rep, nice job

Is this surprising? The book series centers around the struggle for political control of a kingdom and as a result is told by the people involved in that struggle. What would the perspective of an uninvolved peasant or stevedore add?

Yeah this is a “you can’t put the genie back in the bottle” situation. They keep telling themselves that the UB sets are selling well so they keep doing more. The problem is that they’ve alienated a lot of the long time/passionate fan base and I’m not convinced the people buying the marvel sets are going to stick around. Short term profit above all else.

Good point

I have no multiple copies, I’ve stopped collecting physical books and almost exclusively use my e- reader. Storing books is so space consuming I just can’t justify it anymore. The only hardcopies I own at this point are gifts from other people that I held on to for that reason.

Man this book was hard for me. I feel like it motivated me to read so much more so that I can go back in 10 years and maybe understand the allusions/references.

I think I’m going to pick up a casio. I generally want mechanical but you have to respct the functionality and durability at this price point. The other ~cheapish watch I’m debating is the moonswatch mission to pluto, doesn’t have the same history as the F91 and the value proposition is worse but I like the look.

You ever do reverse hypers? Some people swear by them, I’ve never tried it.