Ideally maybe like a sci fi or fantasy novel with thrilling adventure, vivid action and clever politics (not game of thrones or anything drowning in cynicism please) but I'm open to any kind of recommendation, like a good literature novel or something nonfiction about history maybe if you can convince me that it's a good read.

It's either this or leveling in Fortnite to earn the Peter Griffin skin, help me engage in an adult pastime for once, rDrama.

!bookworms

Edit:

Here's the list so far based on your recommendations

Stranger in a strange land

Notes from Underground

Shadow & Claw: the first half of The Book of the New Sun

Musicophilia

The Metaphysical Club

The three body problem

Les Miserable

White people writing fantasy is so interesting to me because you could imagine ANYTHING and your worlds still have rape, incest, hierarchies, pillaging, pilfering, apparatuses of social control, land theft, taxes and abuse.

Again, you could write ANYTHING

— afropessimism apologist (@queendurag) December 28, 2023

For speaking the truth, they give one final statement against the hordes of chuds that dogpile them

I'll address this once cause y'all are weirdos. The tweet has been muted, beloved. White people have work to do in the imaginary and in the real world and I'm not sorry about it. Have fun.

From the last time I posted requests these are the three books I ended up reading:

1. The stranger by Albert Camus

2. No longer human by Omasu Dazai

3. The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

They were all books that I enjoyed.

Please go ahead and recommend me more books here. I would truly appreciate it. You can also recommend me books again that you recommended the last time if I haven't read them and you really feel that I should.

Thank you and looking forward to the list.

What I am currently looking for:

1. Any book that has the secrets of functioning and pushing myself 24/7 without burning out.

2. Any books on forever improving myself without burning out.

3. How to be self aware enough as to correctly categorize myself in relation to other people and how to keep developing myself in terms of social status and making money starting from nothing or near nothing.

4. Anything that teaches me about jobs and how to figure out what work I should be doing.

You are welcome to also recommend me works of fiction or non-fiction that do not match the above preferences. All recommendations are welcome. The above suggestions are in case some of you know something that could help me right now if I read it.

Important: You will not enjoy this book at all if you only read 90% of it. You will not enjoy this book if you read specific segments of it. You have to read the book in its entirety to find it an enjoyable experience.

It's a science fiction book far ahead of its time in terms of the concepts it works with. That Philip had a very unique mind there is no doubt about it.

The worst part of the book is all the s*x with secretaries that serves no purpose.

Once you can get past that point it gets better.

The further you get into the book the better it gets.

The religious context in the book will feel too heavy handed to modern audiences.

There is no singular best part to the book to talk about, as it has to be viewed in its entirety to be appreciated. It is not a tapestry where all the pieces come together into a beautiful whole. It feels more like there was always a singular object to be appreciated, the book, but it takes you hours to get through all of it. Like if it took you 5 hours to load the color green. You wouldn't talk about the different shades of green, nor would you talk about how the pieces of green came together, you would just finally get that the color green is there and it took you 5 hours to see the color green and green looks like a nice color. That's how I would describe this book. It's something cool that it takes you reading through the entire book to see.

Now that I think a bit more about it, yeah there is one cool part to it, and it is how the weird character ( vague enough to not be a spoiler ) keeps becoming more...non human in terms of what we find out they is over the course of the book. Until finally they turns out to be something that is actually indescribable in terms of experience and presence.

A very good job at writing up an inhuman intelligence.

The book also ends on what feels like a cliffhanger which actually works great for where the story is ended.

The characters display a very 1970's morality but not in a bad way.

The most alien thing in the book are the future humans, and the alien.

I would do a deeper dive but there is honestly no real way to describe it. It's an experience.

I rate it 8.5 out of 10.

!bookworms

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

!bookworms any of you guys have any recommendations on botany and gardening? Something basic and something a bit more advanced.

Generally I have better luck with receiving non-fiction so that's what I ask for now. Anthologies are pretty safe too. Already read the quilt book (it's mostly pictures)

!bookworms as you know Never Let Me Go is finished, we'll have a final thread to discuss the book as a whole this Sunday. So it's time to nominate books for the next bookclub. I'll select all nominations and post a thread to vote which one you like most. First voting will eliminate all but the Top 5.

!comicshitters reading material !cuteandvalid !lgbt look femboy !effortposters this ended up taking all day so I am counting it as an effort post!

Merry Christmas! Here are some self contained and ordered comics for an easy reading experience. There is a mix of DC, Marvel, and Indie stuff across multiple genres like superhero, fantasy, drama ect across multiple eras. Click around and see what catches your fancy these should all be self contained and again I've pre sorted all the issues you can just download the CBZs and CBRs and have a solid reading experience.

How to read these

0. some of these uploads are in the IA page preloaded and ready to read in browser but this option isnt the best quality and breaks down with 2 page spreads so I dont recommend unless you just wanna skim.

1. Download all original issues: all of the uploads have a button you can click to grab all of the files I uploaded in one zip (IA likes to add a lot of meta data garbage on comic uploads) only issue is some of these pages have like 50 issues + which is too long to download all at once

2. For large uploads you wanna click the show all button

And then download each issue one at a time you can tell its an actual comic file i uploaded if it ends in a .cbz or .cbr do not download the epubs or jzips or what ever crap IA generated. You just click the cbz or cbr and it starts a download

3. Read the CBZs/CBRs in a dedicated comics reader app. I recommend CDisplayEX it is free, lightweight, portable, and has many nice features like an auto color feature to counter newsprint fading in old scans: https://www.cdisplayex.com

Just set your computer to read in CBRs/CBZs to the comics reader you choose to download.

Spirit Magazine by Will Eisner

https://archive.org/details/the-spirit-magazine

The Spirit is a long running noir news paper strip by Will Eisner starting in the 1940s. The Spirit Magazine is a 70s era black and white reprint of many classic Spirit stories with some new material by Eisner. Why read this stuff specifically then when its mostly reprints and the originals are in color? Well for one I think Eisner's art pops alot more in stark black and white on nice magazine stock then it does on newsprint scans. This is also a greatest hits collection so you are getting the best of Eisner right out of the gate and since these stories are episodic there is little reason to read it all in order, and third, there is lots of fun interviews and historical context provided to help you understand the importance of Eisner to comics

The Complete Ultimate Marvel Universe (2000 - 2015)

https://archive.org/details/the-complete-ultimate-marvel-universe-2000-2015

In the late 90s the comic's industry was in decline and Marvel was facing the brunt of this failure due to some very complicated business stuff which would make a nice effortpost and in general low quality comics which prioritized bloated events, and shocking convoluted reveals over good stories. They also identified two other issues with their comics: 1. characters had too much history which off put new or lasped readers and 2. the characters had grown into adults so the sweet lucrative teenage demographic could no longer relate. The idea of a full Crisis styled reboot was floated but dismissed, so a second Marvel Universe was created. Marvel had previously floated other self contained universes along side their main one (the New Universe and Marvel 2099. but this one served as a full scaled reboot of Marvel featuring all your favorite characters in a sleak, modern, and young world. Starting with Ultimate Spider-Man the Ultimate Universe carved its own path along side the main universe creating a universe which offered a darker and more political take on classic marvel heroes. Unlike the Marvel Universe the Ultimate Universe definitively ended in 2015 (Marvel is starting a new Ultimate Comics universe but its a new thing just reusing the name) so its a nice read if you want a definitive ending. So whether you are an old fan looking for a new twist on the classics or someone looking for a more modern and complete marvel universe give this a shot.

"Omaha" the Cat Dancer

https://archive.org/details/the-collected-omaha-vol.-01-06

This one is for !furries. Originally starting as an Underground Comix in the late 70s Omaha transitioned to an 80s erotic furry alternative comic with its own series at Kitchen Sink Press. Created by artist Reed Waller and writer Kate Worley is a drama comic following stripper Susan Jensen and her BF Chuck Katt as they navigate love, sexuality, and the law in the underground scene. This is more of a slow paced drama with a progressive bent, but its a key erotic comic and one of the early furry comics as the genre transformed away from funny animals.

Starman by James Robinson

https://archive.org/details/starman-reading-order

Starman was originally created in the 1940s during the Golden Age of DC comics as astronomer named Ted Knight who wielded a cosmic rod which let him fly. Ted was a founding member of the first ever super hero crossover team, The Justice Society of America. In the 50s as superheroes waned in popularity DC cancelled every superhero but Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. In the 60s many classic heroes were rebooted with a new sci fi origin - Hal Jordan Green lantern, Barry Allan The Flash, Katar Hol Hawkman ect - but Starman was ignored. Later on when the DC multiverse was created in Flash 123 it was stated all the golden age JSA stories took place in a separate universe called Earth 2. In the 70s and 80s 3 separate characters would appear under the name Starman all unrelated to Ted Knight and each other. When DC rebooted its multiverse into a single universe the JSA was moved to simply being older heroes in the timeline compared to the JLA and in the crossover event, Zero Hour, the JSA including Ted Knight get their asses whooped so they all decide to pass on the mantle. Ted Knight has two son's David Knight, the favorite son who loves his dad and had previously showed up as a starman in one of the 80s series for an issue and Jack Knight, an insufferable hipster who is obessed with old tech but looks down upon his father his superhero world, with David getting the right to be the new Starman.

This is where James Robinson's 81 issue epic starts off with David getting ready to fly in the air as the new Starman only to be shot down by a sniper in on page 1 with Starman duties being thrusted on the unlikely David. Across 80 issues and some spin offs David not only learns what it means to he a hero but also reconnects with his Father and learns what it means to be a Knight. This storyline not only covers Ted Knight and the JSA but also manages to tie together all of the past Starman into a new lore with interesting characterization. Its a story about growing up, its a story about family and what it means to be part if a legacy, its a story about the history of the DCU, its a story about Opal City (the city starman defends), and its just a good, self contained story with interesting characters. It draws a lot from DC history but being the reintroduction of many golden age characters and concepts into the modern DCU it explains most of it well as it updates these concepts from the 90s.

Suicide Squad by John Ostrander

https://archive.org/details/suicide-squad-by-john-ostrander

Did you know that before Suicide Squad was some soy butt hot topic Harley Quinn and goofy friends goofy edge lord James Gunn show it was actually a really good comic by John Ostrander. The Suicide Squad started off in the 50s as some military crew which fought dinosaurs and shit, and in the 80s the concept was rebooted as a super villain dirty dozen out of the Legends event. Unlike the new joker Suicide Squad which is the Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark this first version of the squad had actual D list villains who were unpopular so they could actually die and there was high turnover in the team with some genuine surprises in who ended up being a member. There was a complex black and grey morality and some actual political intrigue mixed in with some superhero craziness. Its a fun book with a smart plot and I don't want to spoil much more.

Jack Staff by Paul Grist

https://archive.org/details/jack-staff-v-2-002-2003-c-2c-starhome

Great Britain's number 1 superhero. Created by Paul Grist Jack Staff is a fun and quirky superhero story about a bunch of weird heroes who defend great Britain. A good mix of episodic stories with slow world building and a mix of comedy, adventure, and dramatic story telling. Paul Grist has a simplified and clean style which is really pleasing to look at. Not much to really say beyond that it reminds me of a less edgy Venture Bros mixed with a less nerdy Scott Pilgrim mixed with a more provincial Invincible. Just a good genuine quirky indie mini superhero universe. The only issue is the series is sadly unfinished and has been for over a decade with the last Jack Staff material being an 8 page story in 2022 for an anthology comic which doesn't advance the story in anyway.

Marvel 2099

https://archive.org/details/marvel_2099

In 1992 Stan Lee wanted to make a new cyberpunk superhero named Ravager so Marvel decided to make a whole universe out of it which launched with Spider-Man 2099. Spider-Man is really the star of the line as Peter David balances the dark and gritty 90s vampire edgelore kino with some comedy and self awareness. The rest of the line ranges in quality but there is some interesting stuff. I think it strikes a nice balance between the books standing alone but also providing further context and effecting each other in subtle ways. The line pretty much died in 1996 when editor Joey Cavalieri was ousted and the top line creatives involved like Peter David and Warren Ellis left and the line limped ahead to its death in 1998.

Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim

https://archive.org/details/cerebus-complete

I could talk alot about Cerebus and probably will later, so I'll just keep it simple here. Cerebus the Aardvark is simply the greatest western comic ever written. It is a self published comic which had no corporate oversight and was entirely the brain child of one man, Dave Sim, who published it for 300 issues monthly from 1997- 2004, with only his co-artist Gerhard also touching the book via his hyper realistic and detail backgrounds. Cerebus is simply just pure creativity and singular vision, many may not fully like the vision but its a piece of outsider art which is also actually genius and well done. For the first 25 issues it isn't anything that special, yeah its a solid fantasy Conan parody with some good art and funny jokes and some clever ideas but isn't master piece tier, but then you get to the first extended arc High Society from issues 26-50 and everything changes. All of a sudden the shit hits the fan and the stories only get bigger, better, more complex, and more intelligent. Dave Sim only improves as an artist and leaving the backgrounds to Gehard starting in 65 allowed for Dave Sim to put more effort into his half of the art and his writing while allowing the backgrounds to be detailed and realistic and the book to release on a monthly schedule. Really I think its the ambition that makes Cerebus, unlike a lot of long running manga by one guy who cheat and let filler arcs bloat the story Cerebus is all killer no filler. Even that arcs that should be filler like the time Cerebus spent like 30 issues in one bar manage to be as well written and drawn as everything else. Dave Sim can make a game of cards between friends as tense as a fight over the throne of a kingdom, he can make a character sitting alone and drunk at a bar as creative and impressionistic as a flight throw space to meet God. There is real intelligent stuff here too. Dave Sim did meticulous research on subjects as diverse as religion, democracy, patriarchy, feminism, historical matriarchies, political correctness (again this was when "the woke" was being dreamt up by academics in journals and books it wasn't mainstream yet), bible historicity, and the life of Ernest Hemmingway. You may not agree with all of his conclusions and his schizophrenia may blind his judgement sometimes but Dave is a smart guy and Cerebus is an interesting look at these issues. Yeah there is an infinite can of controversy I could open up, but I just wanted to gush.

1963, In Pictopia, and X-Amount of Comics by Alan Moore and Don Simpson

Part 1 In Pictopia: https://archive.org/details/in-pictopia

Part 2 1963: https://archive.org/details/alan-moores-1963

Part 3 X-Amount of Comics: https://archive.org/details/x-amount-of-comics

This is sort of a weird trilogy. In Pictopia is a 13 page short story by Alan Moore and Don Simpson which is sort of like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? before that movie was a think where all comic strip characters live together in a city. The main guy is a magician based on the old strip character Mandrake the Magician who likes all the funny animals and this funny stretchy super guy based on Plastic Man (Alan Moore likes those old funny heroes like Jack Cole Plastic Man, CC Beck Captain Marvel, and Herbie the Fat Fury). Well "the new guys" (90s comic superheroes) start gentrifying good ol' pictopia and I can't say more without spoiling since its such a short story. If Watchmen deconstructed the moral effects of Superheroes then In Pictopia deconstructed the creative effects of superheroes on comics. Its so short you have no reason not to read it!

1963 is a later image series which is sort of an acid flashback to the haylcon days of early marvel. It is a totally unironic pastiche of classic 60s Marvel with everything from the writing to the art being a perfect recreation of classic comics (Rick Veitch is the unsung hero of comic art). Beyond the nostalgia the big point of 1963 was that it was going to end in an annual drawn by Jim Lee where the 1963 heroes would meet the modern Image heroes with Moore presumably using the comparison between them to show the flaws of the classic and modern heroes. This was never actually made due to drama (future effort post). Well in 2023 Don Simpson did his own take on the annual called X-Amount of Comics featuring his own comedic bizarre heroes and the pictopia characters along with the 1963 characters. Its not really the annual we were promised but since the Moore version will likely never see the light of day outside of concept material its nice to see someone cared.

32 Page Series by Steve Ditko

https://archive.org/details/32-page-series

You know Steve Ditko, the creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, right? Well this is some of his last work spanning 2008 - 2018 a series of 26 32 page comics which feature a wide variety of new comic characters, political cartoons, and essays on art, comics politics, and Ditko's time at Marvel. You can certainly see a decline in detail as Ditko gets older and you can see it in the art (the last issue was finished right before his death), but his sense of posing and panel layout is always on point. These are very retro comics with absolute perfect heroes and vile villains who exist in a perma-golden age 1940s type city setting, but its fun seeing a classic comics pro just having fun drawing what he wants and a lot of the ideas here are cool like the cape which traps criminals in an alternate dimension which ironically mirrors their crimes as a sort of throwback to his old horror work. This isn't Ditko's best independent solo work but it does show him off well in all his idiosyncrasies. (Fun fact an issue of this comic was the only thing I have ever kickstarted and they threw in a lot more bonus comics then I actually paid for lol).

To discuss the final chapters of Never Let Me Go, our bookclub choice.

!bookworms

Note: I haven't checked out the discussions about this book online and only just finished reading it today. So everything I write underneath is my own take on this book:

1. It's a weird book. Like reading 'the stranger' but Asian and more neurodivergent.

2. The main character in the book is really weird and I could both relate and not relate to him. It's like seeing the world through the eyes of someone who both does and doesn't understand how the world works.

3. I think if you are a loner, a neurodivergent person, or just a weirdo in general, this book is worth reading at least once.

4. One of the core themes of this book that completely changes how you read the entire book appears in the last sentence of the story. It changes the entire story from the idea of a weird maybe creepy maybe just strange person, to a story of how much of a gap can exist between how a person perceives themselves and how the world sees them.

5. It is a story of a man who did everything wrong without being a story of a man who is evil or cruel.

6. The main characters great sin appears to be that he is weak, and he fears judgement. He has low self esteem, is unable to understand the people around him or why they are the way they are, while being obsesses with not being treated badly by them.

7. The main character feels half real and half fictional at the same time.

8. In the end there really isn't much to say about it. It is a book so strange that you are not sure what to say about it. You come out feeling no love for the main character, or even the side characters, and pity at best for the women in the story. Whom the main character appears to outlast every time. Yet the women themselves never appear to ever grow a hatred of the man as if what he sees of himself and what he is in life are completely separate things altogether.

9. I think the best purpose this book serves is for you to be able to identity your own personal failings across the story here and there and easily recognize what things you need to overcome in yourself so as to not end up a ghost like the main character in his own eyes.

10. The book feels like a study of high int low self esteem high charisma. The main character could have easily been a successful man if only it weren't for his inability to see his own place in the world as naturally as others saw their own.

11. Maybe this is a book about self acceptance. Maybe this is a book about not deluding ourselves into being monsters we are clearly not until we become the worse versions of ourselves because it is the only one we ever believed in, or maybe it is a book about the nature of man and the difficulty in finding a place to fit in when you do not have a natural path traced before you, or maybe it's just a story, dispersed about in a haphazard enough manner that you will find whatever message you are looking for. I think that is it. Just as the main character in this story finds what he wishes to see in the world irrespective of what the world actually is, in the same manner we ourselves see what we wish to see in the story irrespective of what it is. Until it is plainly written for us, and even so we might miss the mark.

12. Intelligence without understanding. Charisma without purpose. Wealth without attainment. Many such underlying themes appear to emerge of contradictions and clashing of what is felt and what is done. A weak will easily taken wherever one wishes to throw it.

13. Part that stuck with me - What is the opposite of crime? is it law, punishment, or virtue? It felt like a very Japanese mindset to think of such things.

In the end the only thing that feels sure to me is that the main character in the book was the little child forever in need of a caretaker at heart. Not cruel by nature, simply forever lost without a guiding hand, growing disdainful for its neverending presence, but also so limited in capacity that he couldn't function without it either. He is not pitiable for he drags the world down with him, yet he is also impossible to hate for there is possibly a good nature to him that the world around him sees but he does not.

I would rate the book about a 9/10 if you are neurodivergent and need something to think on. A 7 out of 10 if you are a normie looking for something to read.

Having *listened over 200 classics this year

FTFY

Much obliged. It's not as if it was elaborated in the first sentence or anything.

Wasn't in the post title though so…

Because unless specified, if someone is asked how many books they've read, audiobooks are going to be included in that number. And I have done some physical reading as well.

What is this shit? I have nothing against audiobooks but it's literally not reading

/u/catladylove99 chimes in:

Maybe you didn't know this, but it's a pretty common ADHD accommodation to do other things (especially things that are repetitive and don't require a lot of active thought, which it sounds like OP's job fits) while listening to stuff (audiobooks, lectures, trainings, whatever). It helps us focus better. Our minds tend to wander if our bodies or hands aren't otherwise occupied. So it's incorrect and shows a lack of understanding of ADHD to suggest listening to books doesn't count “especially while working and trying to multi-task.” We do not experience that situation the way people who don't have ADHD do.

Incidentally, audiobooks are an accommodation for a lot of different kinds of disabilities, and pretty much every author I've heard talk about it agrees that they absolutely count as reading. To suggest otherwise is frankly ableist.

What's with people treating ADHD like fricking autism or being actually r-slurred lately? I'm young enough that it was a thing when I was going through school but it was more like, "take this meth and pay attention, dumbass" and not "OMG the whole world needs to accommodate your disability!!!"

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers, sorry for the 2-days delay

!bookworms Merry Christmas!

Sir! Sir! The Brits are Indians!

Welcome, to the Twilight zone.

NOOOOOOOOOO-

Churchill wakes up in bed sweating through the sheets, his head aching as if about to split down the middle.

Another nightmare.

He has been having many like them now.

He never remembers any of them. Only a feeling of existential dread remains. Of carrying the sins of generations, of a certainty that the chickens are coming home to roost.

Knock knock.

The heart almost jumps out the throat. Winston yelps, then bangs the bed a moment later on purpose.

Feigning an injured toe he shouts in a slightly growlier than usual voice,"What is it!"

A letter slips through under his doorstep and all is silent again.

The stout man does not waste time changing. Lighting the candle next to his bed ( He always preferred them over the light bulb in his own room at night ), he opens the letter in the low glare, his eyes well adjusted to the night.

Hands tremble involuntarily as he goes over the letter.

It is a missive, requesting aid of food to India.

For a split moment the image of a brown family walking happily down the streets of London flashes before his eyes and once again his head is split into two and he grunts in pain and crashes to the ground in convulsions, foam flowing freely out of his mouth.

"Drink. I must drink." He fumbles around with his hands on his desk. Barely able to see. Small objects dropping to the ground whenever he hits them. He stops and drops back to the floor as he hears a THONK of hard glass landing on the ground.

Jumping towards it like a dying man after his last chance, he lands on the prize, opening it with trembling hands, he half guzzles and half lets flow the contents of the bottle all over his face and shirt.

He looks more porcine than man in his posture. Minutes pass in such a state. Then he is sucking on air with his lips still clasped to the lips of the bottle. It takes a few moments longer before realization sets in, and once again he is onto another desk looking for another bottle.

At last he lets out a burp. He does not remember how much time has passed but his head no longer hurts.

He can think clearly now, with blurry vision and an unsteady walk, he can finally focus all of his mind on important matters of the state. This man is a genius once his mind no longer needs to focus on the running of limbs or waste energy on the precision of sight.

The letter. Again a flash but he no longer remembers what he saw before or now.

With a steadier hand he reads the letter. His hand holding it steady.

Lips curl in disdain.

These Indians. These bloody Indians. Do they not know there is a war going on?

They want food. Food! Rations taken away from the war effort! For peasants and beggars and men who make children like rats on a mission!

It is almost an automatic movement made without effort. Coming naturally from thousands of repetitions over the years. A hand moves the letter over the open flame of the candle, and he watches as it burns. When the flame has reached the tip of his fingers he drops the remaining parchment, and stamps it with his foot.

Ashes lay scattered over the ground along with his bottles and pens and papers and a spilled over inkwell.

He doesn't even deign to notice the muck he has left in his own room. As comfortable as a pig in shit. Knowing that the job is beneath him to even pretend to care.

Churchill lies back down in the bed. Within minutes tossing and turning again, as images of brown and black hues pass over the streets of London in his mind. Dreams he will never remember, but whose mark will be felt upon his actions in the waking world.

In Chelm, a city of fools, every housewife bought fish for the Sabbath. The rich bought large fish, the poor small ones. They were bought on Thursday, cut up, chopped, and made into gefilte fish on Friday, and eaten on the Sabbath. One Thursday morning the door opened at the house of the community leader of Chelm, Gronam Ox, and Zeinvel Ninny entered, carrying a trough full of water. Inside was a large, live carp. "What is this?" Gronam asked. "A gift to you from the wise men of Chelm," Zeinvel said. "This is the largest carp ever caught in the Lake of Chelm, and we all decided to give it to you as a token of appreciation for your great wisdom." "Thank you very much," Gronam Ox replied. "My wife, Yente Pesha, will be delighted. She and I both love carp. I read in a book that eating the brain of a carp increases wisdom, and even though we in Chelm are immensely clever, a little improvement never hurts. But let me have a close look at him. I was told that a carp's tail shows the size of his brain." Gronam Ox was known to be nearsighted, and when he bent down to the trough to better observe the carp's tail, the carp did something that proved he was not as wise as Gronam thought. He lifted his tail and smacked Gronam across the face. Gronam Ox was flabbergasted. "Something like this never happened to me before," he exclaimed. "I cannot believe this carp was caught in the Chelm lake. A Chelm carp would know better." ''He's the meanest fish I ever saw; in my life," agreed Zeinvel Ninny. Even though Chelm is a big city, news traveled quickly there. In no time at all the other wise men of Chelm arrived at the house of their leader, Gronam Ox. Treitel Fool came, and Sender Donkey, Shmendrick Numskull, and Dopey Lekisch. Gronam Ox was saying, "I'm not going to eat this fish on the Sabbath. This carp is a fool, and malicious to boot. If I eat him, I could be come foolish instead of cleverer." "Then what shall I do with him?" asked Zeinvel Ninny. Gronam Ox put a finger to his head as a sign that he was thinking hard. After a while he cried out, "No man or animal in Chelm should slap Gronam Ox. This fish should be punished." "What kind of punishment shall we give him?" asked Treitel Fool. "All fish are killed anyhow, and one cannot kill a fish twice." ''He shouldn't be killed like other fish,'' Sender Donkey said. "He should die in a different way to show that no one can smack our beloved sage, Gronam Ox, and get away with it." "What kind of death?" wondered Shmendrick Numskull. "Shall we perhaps just imprison him?" "There is no prison in Chelm for fish," said Zeinvel Ninny. "And to build such a prison would take too long." "Maybe he should be hanged," suggested Dopey Lekisch. "How do you hang a carp?" Sender Donkey wanted to know. "A creature can be hanged only by its neck, but since a carp has no neck, how will you hang him?" "My advice is that he should be thrown to the dogs alive," said Treitel Fool. "It's no good," Gronam Ox answered. "Our Chelm dogs are both smart and modest, but if they eat this carp, they may become as stupid and mean as he is." "So what should we do?" all the wise men asked. "This case needs lengthy consideration," Gronam Ox decided. "Let's leave the carp in the trough and ponder the matter as long as is necessary. Being the wisest man in Chelm, I cannot afford to pass a sentence that will not be admired by all the Chelmites." "If the carp stays in the trough a long time, he may die," Zeinvel Ninny, a former fish dealer, explained. "To keep him alive we must put him into a large tub, and the water has to be changed often. He must also be fed properly.”

"You arc right, Zeinvel," Gronam Ox told him. “Go and find the largest tub in Chelm and see to it that the carp is kept alive and healthy until the day of judgment. When I reach a decision, you will hear about it." Of course Gronam's words were the law in Chelm. The five wise men went and found a large tub, filled it with fresh water, and put the criminal carp in it, together with some crumbs of bread, challah, and other tidbits a carp might like to eat. Shlemiel, Gronam's bodyguard, was stationed at the tub to make sure that no greedy Chelmite wife would use the imprisoned carp for gefiltc fish. It just so happened that Gronam Ox had many other decisions to make and he kept postponing the sentence. The carp seemed not to be impatient. He ate, swam in the tub, became even fatter than he had been, not realizing that a severe sentence hung over his head. Shlemiel changed the water frequently, because he was told that if the carp died, this would be an act of contempt for Gronam Ox and for the Chelm Court of Justice. Yukel the water carrier made a few extra pennies every day by bringing water for the carp. Some of the Chelmites who were in opposition to Gronam Ox spread the gossip that Gronam just couldn't find the right type of punishment for the carp and that he was waiting for the carp to die a natural death. But, as always, a great disappointment awaited them. One morning about half a year later, the sentence became known, and when it was known, Chelm was stunned.

The carp had to be drowned.

Gronam Ox had thought up many clever sentences before, but never one as brilliant as this one. Even his enemies were amazed at this shrewd verdict. Drowning is just the kind of death suited to a spiteful carp with a large tail and a small brain. That day the entire Chelm community gathered at the lake to see the sentence executed. The carp, which had become almost twice as big as he had been before, was brought to the lake in the wagon that carried the worst criminals to their death. The drummers drummed. Trumpets blared. The Chelmite executioner raised the heavy carp and threw it into the lake with a mighty splash. A great cry rose from the Chelmites: "Down with the treacherous carp! Long live Gronam Ox! Hurrah!" Gronam was lifted by his admirers and carried home with songs of praise. Some Chelmite girls showered him with flowers. Even Yente Pesha, his wife, who was often critical of Gronam and dared to call him fool, seemed impressed by Gronam's high intelligence. In Chelm, as everywhere else, there were envious people who found fault with everyone, and they began to say that there was no proof whatsoever that the carp really drowned. Why should a carp drown in lake water? they asked. While hundreds of innocent fish were killed every Friday, they said, that stupid carp lived in comfort for months on the taxpayers' money and then was re turned sound and healthy to the lake, where he is laughing at Chelm justice.

But only a few listened to these malicious words. They pointed out that months passed and the carp was never caught again, a sure sign that he was dead. It is true that the carp just might have decided to be careful and to avoid the fisherman's net. But how can a foolish carp who slaps Gronam Ox have such wisdom? Just the same, to be on the safe side, the wise men of Chelm published a decree that if the nasty carp had refused to be drowned and was caught again, a special jail should be built for him, a pool where he would be kept prisoner for the rest of his life. The decree was printed in capital letters in the official gazette of Chelm and signed by Gronam Ox and his five sages-Treitel Fool, Sender Donkey, Shmendrick Num skull, Zeinvel Ninny, and Dopey Lekisch.

!bookworms

I am doing this review right after finishing reading the text, but without looking online for what the book is about. Everything listed below is my own view:

1. I felt like I was reading something important that I could not grasp. Like I could understand it was important, but I could not figure out why.

2. I think the basic conclusion of the book is that one life lived is like any other. The universe doesn't care specially for any of us. It is only the judgement of man that gives value to our actions. The main character himself has not in any way acted in a way that truly made him evil. He simply went through life, getting along with those who accepted him and not getting along with those who didn't. The people that society valued more were the ones whose opinion of the main character society accepted.

3. It's a very honest and uncomfortable look into human psychology. We are good and bad by the standards of the people of our time.

4. I think the title of the novella " The stranger" refers to how the man was a stranger to his own mother, how by his strange ways he was a stranger to the society around him, and how he was even a stranger to himself, simply living life from moment to moment, without care for right or wrong.

5. Another conclusion of the story is that one is only well placed to accept the life he has. Everything else is imaginative play. As long as you accept the life you are given you can make peace with it. I personally disagree with this conclusion because I can see such a nature easily being taken advantage of by anyone who wanted to exploit people for their benefit. Humanity did not move forward in the evolutionary arms race by simply accepting their place.

6. I believe even Albert Camus admits that this philosophy is not meant to get you ahead in life, as in his very story he does not depict the narrator as a winner in life. Albert Camus's view seems to be more about what he believes the world is rather than whether that is a good or bad thing.

7. This makes the novella a refreshing read, as it has one of those rare characters who is not spending the story defending himself as a good man. Most novels appear to be focused on showing the main characters point of view as being naturally good or misunderstood. Here the character does not appear to fall into such a natural state. For all appearances he would have been condemned to die even if the jury could understand exactly how he felt about things and what he thought of them.

8. I am confused as the why the woman Marie loved the main character. I am assuming its a mix of Camus using Marie as a tool to keep the attention of the reader ( Hot woman inside. Look our guy gets laid ), and as a self insert of how his relationships go where he just goes through life and ends up getting laid a whole lot but there isn't any great technique or thought to it beyond how the main character went about it.

9. Another theme in the story appears to be how the people would condemn a man not for the crimes that he commits but for any appearance of a bad character he might have. Or punish him in one place for something unrelated he did in another place. For a man to condemn you it needn't require for you to be guilty, but only for you to be disliked to their sensibilities.

10. One bit that hit me specially was when the main character was talking to the jailer about how not being able to touch a woman seemed like double punishment and the jailer explained how that was the taking away of liberty, and I am just thinking of how strange it sounded to hear liberty be used synonymously with making love to a woman. It made sense but still felt so strange to hear. Not in a bad way, it just really justaposed how we live life right now in society and how strange we have become and how not free we are even as we speak of being free.

Final thoughts: Life is. There is nothing more or less to it than that. Make of it what you will.

Your thoughts?

This is a ping group for my comics posting !comicshitters . I have a new post cookin rn :3 so sub to be the first to know ! And show those unamerican weebcels what real american art is

To discuss the final chapters of our Bookclub choice, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Next Sunday we'll have our final thread to discuss the book as a whole and express our final thoughts.

!bookworms

The last book I read was about human intelligence.

The book before that was a 40k book.

The book I enjoyed the most recently was a B - class zombie book called the rising by Brain keene.

The book I currently got bored of is about human behaviors.

Go go go!

Recommend me a book you think I will be willing to read.

Thank you in advance.

Sources for my "The Most Honest Journ*list to Ever Live" posts in case you want to skewer me for any inaccuracies or if you want to read up on Pietro Aretino himself. Just keep in mind that I'm very sensitive and if you point out any mistake I made then I WILL KILL MYSELF and It'll be ALL YOUR FAULT

"Pietro Aretino, the Sourge of Princes"

Edward Hutton, 1922

"The Divine Aretino"

James Cleugh, 1966

Both are biographies of Aretino and so contain much the same information. Hutton's work includes an obvious Catholic moral bias, but is also the more thorough one.

"Aretino's Pornography and Renaissance Satire"

Saad El-Gabalawy

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1347699

"Crafty Whores: The Moralizing of Aretino's Dialogues"

IAN FREDERICK MOULTON

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41557045

"Aretino and the Harvey-Nashe Quarrel"

David C. McPherson

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1261501

All three of these focus primarily on the 16/17th century English literature world's relationship with Pietro Aretino's work. Early on, Aretino was as respected as any other Renaissance Italian author might be, but as England entered the 17th century and religious conflict became popular, many began to see Pietro's literature as too obscene. This is showcased in the second article, which analyzes a translated portion of Aretino's Dialogues; during translation, the work gains a heavy moralizing message and several scenes are censored as to not offend contemporary sensibilities.

"'Lingua Eius Loquetur Mendacium'"

William T. Rossiter

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27095415

"'E poi in Roma ognuno è Aretino'": Pasquino, Aretino, and the Concealed Self

MARCO FAINI

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26400104

The first article analyzes Aretino's relations to Henry VIII's court and possible connection to the Venetian state. The second analyzes satire in Renaissance Italy, and how many authors would claim certain identifies as to keep attention away from themselves should one of their works not be taken well by the powers-that-be. Aretino had large influence on the satirical world of Italy in his day, even serving as one of the "concealed selves" referred to in the title.

"Some Character Aspects of the Satirist (Pietro Aretino)"

Maurice N. Walsh

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26301764

This article psychoanalyzes Pietro in an effort to better understand his character and personality. I tend to not put too much stock in psychoanalysis anyway, but I had some major issues with this article especially. Throughout, the author attempts to paint Aretino as an insecure narcissist constantly trying to please higher ups in an attempt to satiate his ego, but I think that's a mischaracterization. Aretino was most certainly a narcissist, and fairly insecure, but it never manifested in any effort to seek the approval of authority figures.

Aretino's constant flattery of higher ups was much more of an effort to manipulate them into supporting his lifestyle, rather than any ego-driven attempt to gain their respect. He even considered much of the upper classes and their ways of life to be beneath himself. If Aretino was ever trying to gain the approval of any large group of people, it was the lower classes, who he constantly appealed to through his lambasting of their rulers, often positioning himself as a speaker of "truth" and deliverer of it to the masses.

The author of this article also takes anything Aretino says in his letters at face value, which is a common mistake and one I've seen in in a couple of the articles listed here, but is nevertheless one that shouldn't be made.

"A History of the Papacy During the Period of the Reformation"

Mandell Creighton, 1894

This is what it is on the tin: a history of the Papacy during the period of the Reformation. I only read a single chapter of it, as I exclusively used it as a source for the small section on Pope Adrian VI's election, so I can't speak to the wider work.

This is a call out thread. This account is posting harmful misinformation in the form of fake Frog and Toad quotes that do not appear in the books written by Arnold Lobel 🧵 pic.twitter.com/eiPhl9OSk2

— Hannah Posts (@HannahPosted) December 15, 2023

sigma grindset

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

!bookworms

!bookworms

Which book always makes you cry?