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NeilNjae
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I think the review is here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/georgi-gospodinov/time-shelter/ Interesting-sounding book!
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(Quote) I think Horta is overstating his case, both for the authenticity of this text (or any other he approves of) and the importance of the Arabian Nights on European literature. That overstating means I'm increasingly sceptical about many of his …
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(Quote) I don't know what sources Seale is drawing from, but I think she's drawing on both Galland's translation and Arabic texts. As for the Diyab tales, I get the clear impression she's looking at both Diyab's and Galland's texts. In any case, I …
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(Quote) I also think that there are only so many ways you can write the same thing. The other translation I read has those bits in-line, and I mostly skip them. (Quote) Good question! I have no idea. But I also think we have be careful not to have …
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Notes on Fisherman and jinni * Again, extensive notes before the tale. Are these useful? * How do you rate this as a children's story? * Did you read the poetry? * Were you expecting the fisherman's solution?
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(Quote) The Introduction states that many of these tales are pre-Islamic, so there's no reason why some of these tales couldn't be Babylonian. There's also the cultural continuity argument: many of these tales are recorded in Mesopotamia. I'm not s…
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(Quote) That's a good question to ask. Are you looking forward to the next tale? Do you want to know the story of the Second and Third Old Men? Regarding the influence of the Tales on European fantasy, the Wikipedia article on the history of fantas…
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(Quote) It looked like it should have been a good read, so it was a good choice for the club. Perhaps we're getting spoiled in our old age?
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(Quote) He could pass it on to some other relative. I would say his brother and his children, but that's probably not an option in this case. But as you say, don't question too much. Kings are supposed to preserve their kingdom, that's what kings do…
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This question (and the previous one) made me reflect on the reason I didn't like this book. It had an elevated importance to literature. And it had alternate history. And it had political satire. And it had mad science. And it had time travel. And i…
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I'm afraid it didn't. I was quite looking forward to something humorous, but this didn't do it for me. I think it was the mismatch between the utterly ludicrous setting and the intense seriousness with which the characters (and hence us) sometimes t…
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...and Arabian Nights week 2.
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(Quote) You're welcome. This is already more successful than I thought! (Quote) That's an interesting thought, and puts a different light on the notion of these tales as being about what it means to be a good king. (Quote) Good observation! (Quot…
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I'm not sure what definitive "ending" there is to an indeterminate sequence of stories. I think that accepted wisdom is that Sharhriyah falls in love with Shahrazad during the telling and they remain happily married after the 1001 nights, …
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Getting there. I'm about half-way, but should have some time this week to get cracking.
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First week's notes up.
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Welcome back! And enjoy the cruise.
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(Quote) Yes please!
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Draft reading schedule for Arabian Nights now in its own thread: https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/922/arabian-nights-reading-schedule#latest
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The setting, if fleshed out, could be interesting to game in. You could do something interesting with the force of formation instinct and calendrical conformity. Perhaps that's where the Dog Eat Dog element is coming from: in that game, players gain…
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Lee currently lives in Texas, but (according to his wikipedia page) spent a lot of his childhood in Korea. That said, given his varied cultural experience, I'm surprised that he produced a book that was so difficult to parse by this group of Angloph…
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I was wondering if Ninefox Gambit would have been more interesting if Cheris had a stray civilian to look after as well as organise the assault on the station. But then it occurred to me that Ninefox Gambit would have been more interesting if Cheris…
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I thought "formation instinct" was conditioning to obey orders, quickly and unquestioningly. How much of the good formation's benefit comes from purely physical ordering, and how much from mystical agreement with the calendar, is open to d…
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I think Lee wanted to show the horrors of war, but again the descriptions didn't land. No-one really seemed that upset by anything that happened. As for the issues of command, I don't think we ever saw Charis really struggling with some command deci…
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I think the writing was workmanlike at best. No great turns of phrase, no elegant setting of scene, and the pacing was somewhat off. A lot of the characters made fairly nonsensical decisions too.
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I agree with the comments. There wasn't enough to make anything real. It was almost like this was the dialogue and set direction for a film, but without any of the art direction or set dressing that would have made things come to life.
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My take on this is that it's a neo-Confucian thing, where the workings of the universe follow a predictable pattern, and many rituals and events must happen, both because the universe compels them and because the universe will fail if they're not do…
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Let's file this under "cultural references that didn't translate." I thought it helped reinforce Jedao's role as a trickster, attempting to bring a change to the status quo. As for the plan... it was irrelevant to the book, and I can't rea…
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Arabian Nights schedule thoughts. I think we should aim at about 20-25 pages per week. Is that OK? Also, I think the Introduction has some good stuff in it about the context of the Arabian Night, and how it's interpreted. How about we split the fir…
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Questions posted in the Ninefox gambit category. As for the Arabian Nights, sorry for being a bit slow on this. I'll put together a reading schedule in the next few days.