Stephen Konsor itibaren KwaGingindlovu, South Africa

dioramastudios

11/14/2024

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Stephen Konsor Kitabın yeniden yazılması (10)

2018-05-26 06:41

6 Sınıf Tüm Dersler Soru Bankası Bilfen Yay TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından: Bilfen Yayınları

This very late adopter of hip hop and graphic novels is overwhelmed by Watchmen. The copy in my possession has been like a mocking sentinel for two years, moving from this shelf to that one, from floor to desk, from top of pile to bottom and back again. Its yellow brightness always glowed in my peripheral vision. The book was loaned to me in 2009 by a friend (by my own request) and the longer it sat around the more I was determined to do something that has never been done in the annals of humankind: to return a book to its rightful owner after two years despite the fact that any jury of bookreaders would grant me--and any other longterm book borrower--the rights of possession. I just called my friend and told him: mission accomplished, it's coming home. He said: "Oh, I forgot you had it." So, see? I could have kept it. Two years ago, I made an abortive attempt at Watchmen. The graphics and the words, and the dizzying way in which the story begins, made me lose my bearings. I lost interest fast. I thought maybe graphic novels were not for me. Then, four nights ago I had a good wine buzz going. I felt impulsive and also had that intense concentration and focus and craving one can get under the influence; akin to the horniness one can suddenly develop on alcohol. I picked up Watchmen, and as one intoxication wore off another one took over. I was hooked. By the time Dr. Manhattan, the big blue god, is ruminating on the nature of time and history, I knew I was in the presence of something grand. It was one of those moments I occasionally experience, when a key unlocks a door blocking areas of my mind. Like the time philosophy 101 Professor Gary Boelkins explained Plato's forms or the story of the cave during my freshman year of college. Watchmen is a complex story spanning decades, told in fragmentary form, often with the past present and future co-existing, and more than one narrative woven simultaneously. Like the broken watch of the book, the story comes together much like the pieced-together cogs and gears of a watch. There are dossiers and news clippings and extended passages of text separating the chapters which flesh out the worlds and backgrounds of the characters. The book turns the entire superhero genre on its head. There is no black and white view of good and evil here. Superheroes in Watchmen are just as likely to be proto-fascists as they are benign forces for good. Their blind allegiance to American "values" calls into question whether their power and presence is comforting or dangerous and disturbing. Watchmen presents a world in which both conservatives and liberals can justify genocide as long as it meets their own agenda and ideals. Everyone in Watchmen is admirable and reprehensible, depending on the situation or the dilemma. The book presents an alternative history of the United States and the world, and even for that, life on the ground for ordinary people seems little different than it actually is. The alternative history is a clever trope that ensures this book can never date. I saw the Watchmen film two years ago and found it more than slightly ludicrous. Now that I've read and been bowled over by the book and its thematic ambitions and enormous insight, I need to revisit the film and do a fresh comparison. I could say a lot more, but, needless to say, I was greatly impressed and moved by this breakthrough graphic novel classic.

2018-05-26 12:41

Hansel ile Gratel TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından: Timaş Çocuk

Central Idea: A man does not do a saintly act, nor does he commit sin; a man just does what he has to do. Plot: Two students, keen to understand the true nature of 'sin', are commissioned on a project by their Guru. One is sent to a rich young man enjoying all the pleasures of life, while the other is sent to a Yogi, who has abnegated all that is worldly for the spiritual. The students are required to serve these masters for one year and then revert with an answer to their question. Pathetic Novel! But this terrible novel does one good thing: it reveals the truism that stylization, restraint and contextual relevance are necessary components of all fiction, even one -- in fact especially one -- whose purported aim is philosophy. With this thought, 'Chitralekha' may not even be regarded a novel, for it is a brutal failure on all these aspects. Its characters -- or rather types -- are so deplorably tied to the inescapable, shrill voice of the author, that it reads not as a subtle display of his intelligence -- as it could have -- but as a loud, over-the-top honking of it. Verma grossly marginalizes texture, concentrating unceasingly on ill-conceiving events to enable him to engage his characters in debates on philosophical issues. The fake characters exist solely for the delivery of the author's point and counterpoint, and nothing else. A Dostoyevsky reference may be made here, but any comparison is impossible; Verma is too verbose and straightforward to come anywhere close to the Russian (who, incidentally, is not a big hit with me). So pathetic is Verma's desire for control, that at no single page is he able to distance himself from the work and let it flow. All in all, the plot and the central idea are simplistic yet strong, but their translation into fiction is poor. 'Chitralekha' is paragraph after paragraph of logical conversation (the logic by the way, if it really matters, is solid at times) delivered by characters who are clueless of what they will do next, other than talking, that is. 'Chitralekha' is hurried, as if it was written by a writer restless to provide his soul some deliverance from his own cumbersome intelligence. But now I'm wondering. Should I deliver the final insult? I think I should: Chitralekha, ostensibly a masterpiece of Hindi literature would have never EVER found a decent publisher if it was written in English (Is that the reason why there are no translations in print?) You may call me biased. I am, but not too much. I have read one more book by Bhagwaticharan Verma -- 'Veh Phir Nahi Aayi' -- and it had the same problems as Chitralekha (the stentorian philosophizing was absent, which made it passable). I have not yet read 'Bhoole Bisre Chitr', supposedly Verma's best book, and so I will abstain from making an unqualified comment about his writing -- or about Hindi-Urdu-literature-that-is-not-social-realism. But after reading some examples 20th century Hindi novel, I have decided to be a bit skeptical of its claim of being as good as its Western counterpart.

2018-05-26 13:41

Palas Pandıras TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından: Gece Kitaplığı

I loved this book, another great one by Sandra Hill! I originally thought that this was an extension of her Cajun series but it's not really. The characters of Tee John and Tante Lulu are in it, but they are just background characters. It also doesn't take place in the bayou. But I still loved it. This book had the same trademark quirkiness and humor as Hill's other books so I was not disappointed. In this book, Ronnie is a high powered lawyer from Boston who has been tricked by her eccentric grandfather into taking over his treasure hunting company. In the process of trying to sort it out, she runs into her 4 time ex-husband Jake who she finds out has invested 100 grand in the grandfathers company. They both decide to get together and try to help out her grandfather's failing business, but of course it's not because they still love each other. Obviously having been married and divorced to the same person means they have no attraction. Ha. Tante Lulu is along for the ride to stir things up because she swears that the thunderbolt has hit Jake and Ronnie. I loved how the characters related to one another, and the attraction between Jake and Ronnie was indisputable. I thought the story line was interesting, and entertaining. This is definitely a book that flies along and by the time I realized it, it was over and I can't wait to read the next one: Pearl Jinx.

Okuyucu Stephen Konsor itibaren KwaGingindlovu, South Africa

Kullanıcı, bu kitapları portalın yayın kurulu olan 2017-2018'de en ilginç olarak değerlendirdi "TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi" Tüm okuyucuların bu literatürü tanımalarını tavsiye eder.