![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, c.240pp.
I read several books by Greene before and I absolutely love the language in "The End of the Affair". I liked "The Quiet American" too. It's been a while since I've read him and I wanted to read something by him this year. I picked this book because it had the best reviews and also is considered one of his more powerful books. It was certainly a very different style with a lot of internal ideas and a lot of philosophy. It was hard to orient yourself at first and I think the book got a lot more interesting once we got into the head of the priest himself. It's a kind of book one needs to think about and it does make you think about life and the human condition. He is good at capturing people's fears and what drives them. It is not my favorite of his but I am glad I read it.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, 278pp.[Hugo book]
This was my 2nd Hugo winning book of the year (My goal is 5 books). I knew this was a classic book so I was looking forward to it. And it was worth the hype. I liked the main character and his view of war. I liked his relationship with Marygay and was happy at the ending. I think the descriptions of the war were never tedious and the pace was great.
The only part I had a problem with was when William came back to Earth after his first tour and it was 20 years later in Earth time and he had to adjust. The change just seemed too drastic to be believable. Too much for twenty years. I get the point of it since the author wanted to show the alienation of Vietnam war but it was just not believable to me.
Also Earth encouraging all people to be homosexual to avoid procreation that was also weird. There are other way to get around not procreating and also gay people have kids all the time. That's not how procreation works now. I guess because he was writing this before test tube babies were possible this made sense to him. That part was just weird just like it was weird that the male and female soldiers were encouraged to have sex and one night stands all the time; and poor women soldiers who arrived at the new place. That did not read right at all.
But despite these drawbacks, I can see why this book is a classic and it was a good read overall.
I didn't realize the sequel also won a Hugo so I will certainly read it at some point, although I don't know if it needs it.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells [Murderbot Diaries 4], 176pp
A fun conclusion to the quartet of the novelettes. I tend to think of these books as one novel pretty much as it is a story continuation. It was nice to get back to the original characters from the first book but I also forgot so much specifics about that first part since I read it awhile ago.
As usual my favorite part was Murderbot and his awkward social interactions and figuring out his social interactions. I liked how watching his media shows proved crucial is several ways - we do learn from TV.
I just had lots of fun with this series and I'm looking forward to the new novel next year.
The Last Wish by Andrej Sapkowski [Witcher], 280pp
My Dad got me this book (collection of short stories with a narrative connecting them) last year along with the first full novel of the Witcher series. This series is very popular in Russia and Europe in general and there is a TV show coming to Netflix this fall. I'm more into sci-fi than fantasy but since my Dad was insistent and because I will most likely watch the Netflix show, I decided to check it out.
I did enjoy the common sense approach to fairy tales and twists on the familiar ones. There were twists on "Beauty and the Beast" and "Snow White" and a child promised to a monster along with others. I did like the humor in these stories; some got me giggling. The dialogue was certainly amusing. Action sequences and fighting usually bore me though, so luckily there weren't too many. This story collection does what it promised which is introduce the reader to the world and the rules of it. I can't get a firm sense on Geralt though. I don't know if I like him - I think more backstory is needed. And I completely didn't understand/believe the main romance: why Geralt fell in love with Yennifer after she mind controlled him and pretty much didn't care about if he got killed because of it? Just physical attraction? Why did she suddenly was into him - just because he used a wish to save her? I pretty much like the rest of the relationships in the story but not this one.
In the end, I liked this book enough to want to read more of this series but I didn't fall in love with it.
I read several books by Greene before and I absolutely love the language in "The End of the Affair". I liked "The Quiet American" too. It's been a while since I've read him and I wanted to read something by him this year. I picked this book because it had the best reviews and also is considered one of his more powerful books. It was certainly a very different style with a lot of internal ideas and a lot of philosophy. It was hard to orient yourself at first and I think the book got a lot more interesting once we got into the head of the priest himself. It's a kind of book one needs to think about and it does make you think about life and the human condition. He is good at capturing people's fears and what drives them. It is not my favorite of his but I am glad I read it.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, 278pp.[Hugo book]
This was my 2nd Hugo winning book of the year (My goal is 5 books). I knew this was a classic book so I was looking forward to it. And it was worth the hype. I liked the main character and his view of war. I liked his relationship with Marygay and was happy at the ending. I think the descriptions of the war were never tedious and the pace was great.
The only part I had a problem with was when William came back to Earth after his first tour and it was 20 years later in Earth time and he had to adjust. The change just seemed too drastic to be believable. Too much for twenty years. I get the point of it since the author wanted to show the alienation of Vietnam war but it was just not believable to me.
Also Earth encouraging all people to be homosexual to avoid procreation that was also weird. There are other way to get around not procreating and also gay people have kids all the time. That's not how procreation works now. I guess because he was writing this before test tube babies were possible this made sense to him. That part was just weird just like it was weird that the male and female soldiers were encouraged to have sex and one night stands all the time; and poor women soldiers who arrived at the new place. That did not read right at all.
But despite these drawbacks, I can see why this book is a classic and it was a good read overall.
I didn't realize the sequel also won a Hugo so I will certainly read it at some point, although I don't know if it needs it.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells [Murderbot Diaries 4], 176pp
A fun conclusion to the quartet of the novelettes. I tend to think of these books as one novel pretty much as it is a story continuation. It was nice to get back to the original characters from the first book but I also forgot so much specifics about that first part since I read it awhile ago.
As usual my favorite part was Murderbot and his awkward social interactions and figuring out his social interactions. I liked how watching his media shows proved crucial is several ways - we do learn from TV.
I just had lots of fun with this series and I'm looking forward to the new novel next year.
The Last Wish by Andrej Sapkowski [Witcher], 280pp
My Dad got me this book (collection of short stories with a narrative connecting them) last year along with the first full novel of the Witcher series. This series is very popular in Russia and Europe in general and there is a TV show coming to Netflix this fall. I'm more into sci-fi than fantasy but since my Dad was insistent and because I will most likely watch the Netflix show, I decided to check it out.
I did enjoy the common sense approach to fairy tales and twists on the familiar ones. There were twists on "Beauty and the Beast" and "Snow White" and a child promised to a monster along with others. I did like the humor in these stories; some got me giggling. The dialogue was certainly amusing. Action sequences and fighting usually bore me though, so luckily there weren't too many. This story collection does what it promised which is introduce the reader to the world and the rules of it. I can't get a firm sense on Geralt though. I don't know if I like him - I think more backstory is needed. And I completely didn't understand/believe the main romance: why Geralt fell in love with Yennifer after she mind controlled him and pretty much didn't care about if he got killed because of it? Just physical attraction? Why did she suddenly was into him - just because he used a wish to save her? I pretty much like the rest of the relationships in the story but not this one.
In the end, I liked this book enough to want to read more of this series but I didn't fall in love with it.
