To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers. !bookworms
I'm finnishing Never Let Me Go, I haven't read any thing for a couple of weeks even though the book club ended.
I also bought 2 editions of Charles Darwin's On The Origin of the Species 
First I ordered the 6th edition and then the first edition which arrived today and is shown in the pic above. Yes I'm aware Darwin's book is outdated as he had no knowledge of genetics but I bought them as they're still interesting as history of science and to see how much of the original theory still stands, also the cover and illustrations are so pretty.
These pics are from the 6th edition I got, very collectible editions even if they're translations. !historychads
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I have continued my trip through the works of Ishiguro. Klara and the Sun was a cute book, but fairly odd in many ways. Klara is probably his most likable protagonist yet, no doubt done somewhat ironically since she's a robot. He did a good bit of work trying to create a unique non-human narration style, and I think he succeeded in that respect. Learning about the world through Klara's eyes is interesting, although like other Ishiguro works, ultimately little of the mystery matters beyond the emotions it evokes in the characters. Still, I think this one might have needed a bit more time in the oven. Much of what we learn about the side characters ranges from tropes to just completely confusing and irrelevant. The ending seems to be controversial. I think it was ok. I don't know or care enough about religion to speak on those themes, but they're certainly there if you want to see his take on them.
And though I planned to stop there, I'm glad I didn't. The Remains of the Day caught my interest, and I now think it's a modern masterpiece. If you could only read one of his books, it should be this one. We should retroactively go back and undo the book club because Never Let Me Go sucks butt in comparison. An absolutely beautiful and crushing take on regret and one's sense of duty. A must read.
I'm about halfway through When We Were Orphans now. Most people seem to think it's his worst. I can understand why, but still an enjoyable read so far.
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What?
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Agreed, The Remains of the Day was so much better and so incredibly gloomy
. Stevens was a depressing character and a cautionary tale of man to afraid to engage in a relationship or actually do something, literally anything not just Miss Kenton, he even refused to give his lordship a good advice and just remains shut while he cuddles with nazis, Stevens knew it could damage his reputation and never brought it up not even once, also the chapter of the dinner with the family after his car ran out of gas was so uncomfortable. His breakdown with the old man at the pier near the end was sadder than Ruth struggling through her donations in NLMG (at least Ruth complained about their situation instead of just taking it as normal like and Kathy did).
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The Lord Darlington plot is so good. It's very easy to support a man who wants to ease the terms of Versailles if you know any history, even if he's only an old fashioned genleman outside his depth. It makes total sense he winds up being tricked into becoming a Nazi sympathizer. He never changed, the world changed and no one could convince him of it. He never came across as a bad guy.
And Mr. Stevens, what a punch at the end. He's so convincing at the start, you actually kind of buy into his whole dignity through servitude thing. Even when he worked through his father dying, I still kind of respected him in a weird way even though I knew his choice was ridiculous. Then that meeting with Ms. Kenton and his breakdown on the pier. God, such a brutal reality check.
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Yeah, Darlington was sort of a naive guy who ended up serving as a useful idiot. But one should consider Mr. Stevens is not a reliable narrator, he mentioned Darlington ordered him to fire the jewish staff and while remembering that episode Stevens is trying really hard to paint his employer in the best light as possible. The part where his father dies is interesting, Darlington asks Stevens if he's crying. Als, while I know Anthony Hopkins played him the film, I imagined Peter O'Toole as Stevens, I don't know why but it fitted well in my imagination.
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