“The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear”
It’s a fictional book.
Currently reading Rumo. I’ll have to read more of the Zamonia series.
Damn, that was the first thing I thought of before clicking on this thread as well.
Great book. Great series.
Oh wow, I didn’t even know they exist in other languages until I had to google it for this thread in english :D
The Dutch translation is great. One of the few books I prefer to read in Dutch over English.
Moers wrote many great books in his Zamonia setting, but bluebear is head and shoulders above the rest.
The books have great art too. Done by the author, as he’s a cartoonist.
Cooking with Coolio
What’s your favorite recipe from coolio
Kicking the ladder
It tells how rich countries got rich by breaking the rules they ask/demand poor countries to follow.
History of economics
I abstract everything to such an extent that what I’ve read is almost like a part of me I have trouble separating like this.
There are many things I’ve read but never talk about. I mean, I was a Jehovah’s Witness growing up, and quite an active one. I’ve read the bible many times, along with most of the numerous publications. I know more than most witnesses; enough that no witnesses want to talk to me about it because there is nothing they could say that I am unaware of on the subject. I’m smart enough to know that objective reasoning with a belief system is completely counter productive and pointless. I have never spoken out against it publicly or been labeled apostate or anything like that. I was to the point of reading various direct transcriptions of Aramaic texts and looking for deeper contextual meanings. It is not something I really care to talk about, and I’m a bit rusty with a lot of other stuff on my mind since, but I can spar on the subject if something got me motivated enough to try. I simply talk about the things that are a part of me, and that part of me was a dead end I left behind when I found the end of the road.
The Saga of Pliocene Exile / Galactic Milieu series by Julian May. The best sci-fi books I’ve ever read for world-building and plot. Written in the '90s, hardly anyone remembers them, despite their success at the time.
They took a long time to write. One my friends was planning to break into May’s house and read her notes if she died before finishing.
I remember in the GM series, she always ended the books on a cliffhanger, which may have been a brilliant marketing ploy but was simultaneously terrifying.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I used to bring it up all of the time, but since he has yet (after many, many years) not produced the final book in the trilogy, I’ve stopped talking/thinking about it until just now.
The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich.
2666, mainly because it seems like no one has read it
I’ve started it twice. Got through the first part (with the various literature professors) on my second attempt, but then couldn’t really get into the next part (which I’ve already forgotten what it’s about).
Not Bolaño’s fault though, my ability to focus on long books has diminished massively in the last 10-15 years, probably because of phones.
One day I’ll get through it, because I could tell it was good, even as I struggled to keep going!
It took me nearly three months to get through, with a pretty big gap in the middle, so I don’t blame you. It’s a tough read, especially the later chapters. Part 4: The Part About the Crimes is notoriously difficult to endure. I nearly tapped out there, 80% through it
Blimey, it gets harder? That simultaneously makes me want to try again, and also throw my copy away and never think of it again.
I’ll probably go for the former. Good to be forewarned though, thanks!
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Bear Head. The antagonist is very… contemporary.
Adrian Tchaikovsky?
I had the exact same thought reading it.
Varjak Paw. Kind of hard to throw around as a recommendation because its at grade school reading level but its still a good story, the kind that makes you love reading
Extreme Privacy: Mobile Devices
I sometimes mention the book online in a privacy forum but never offline.
You’re a beast, Viskowitz! By Alessandro Boffa.
Got that book on sale at a supermarket ages ago and it turned out to be freaking hilarious. Each chapter is a short glimpse into the life of Visko (Viskowitz) as he reincarnates as a different animal and with no previous knowledge of any other past life. His main love interest, Ljuba, as well as other secondary characters also reincarnate along. Visko is usually just a regular guy, rarely on top of things and often a loser.
It’s a light read which can sometimes be quite thought provoking. Recommended
This series of books about an English author who wrote about the lives of the various Siamese cats she had living in the idyllic English countryside, as well as a donkey for a time. It was relaxing in ways I cannot articulate.
The Master and His Emissary, by Iain McGilchrist. In short, it explains in great detail how the left and right hemisphere of the brain are essentially two separate brains with two different worldviews that work together and inhibit one another to get things done, and how many, if not most, of our psychological and social problems stem from the issues that arise simply because of their different, incompatible worldviews. It is without a doubt the most interesting book I’ve ever read, with lots of implications for our world, but the number of people who would be straight up interested in this subject on face value seems very limited.
