I've been seeing her name a lot lately in terms of good science fiction and fantasy. I feel like I've lost so much attention span in terms of my ability to read and stuff and I'd like to start getting back into it, perhaps starting with her (or Terry Pratchett lol).

If I start with her, what's a good place to start with her work?

I understand that the newer version has a different ending and some new characters and scenes that weren't in the original. But the original is what got all the accolades and was considered his best book.

Which way should I go?

I read The Count of Monte Cristo some years ago, and it remains one of my favorite novels. This year, I committed to read The Three Musketeers. I chose a Librivox audiobook narrated by Mark Smith, since I had enjoyed his recording of Tarzan of the Apes.

The audiobook used a public-domain translation which apparently toned down or removed the more risque parts of the story. If you want to read or listen to an audiobook (which I recommend), I guess try to find a more modern translation, even if you have to pay for it. The Librivox recording is of high quality, with excellent narration.

I very much enjoyed the story. The true pleasure of the novel is the bond between D'Artagnan and the musketeers, and discovering their personalities. Much like Little Women, this is a novel that you remember for the characters. On top of that, you get to know the "lackeys" of the four. I had assumed the lackeys would be irrelevant to the plot, instead, they all manage to play a role in the larger story.

#Milady

The most interesting character for me was the villain Milady. My opinion of her swung wildly across the story.

(SPOILERS)

About a third of the way through the book, D'Artagnan becomes smitten with Milady. He disguises himself as Milady's lover, the Comte de Ward, to have sex with her. This is glossed over in the translation I listened to, but I was alarmed when I read about it in a separate summary. What D'Artagnan does would now be considered rape, and it's no wonder Milady flies into a rage when she discovers the truth.

In another chapter, D'Artagnan's melancholy friend and father-figure Athos confides his own dark past: years before, he was a count, and married a young girl from his village. He later discovered this girl had been branded on her shoulder as a felon. Athos cut her clothes off and had her hanged. Ashamed to his core by the scandal, he renounced his title, took on the name Athos, and joined the Musketeers. Later, it's revealed that Athos' wife survived the hanging, and became Milady.

I can accept the explanation that Athos, as a nobleman, was bound by duty to carry out the execution. Still, in the moment of reading, what he did felt pretty damn brutal. I suppose I was thinking of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, or the people who were sent to penal colonies for breaking a plate in a burglary.

All of that's to say that I started the second half of the book feeling like maybe Milady had been wronged a little bit, and may have had some reasons for seeking revenge on D'Artagnan and friends. I was accustomed to modern storytelling convention, which has no patience for purely evil characters. If the story were written today, the branding would have been treated as a tragic misunderstanding.

I hate to say it, but when Milady is captured in England on her way to assassinate the Duke of Buckingham, part of me was hoping she'd escape and get away with it.

I was sobered up by the end, when Milady has mercilessly poisoned Madame Bonacieux, and when we hear the Executioner's story. At that point, I was disabused of my notion that Milady was some victim of circumstance. If Athos had not discovered Milady's brand, she would have ruined him, too, if not killed him.

All I can do is give my compliments to Dumas' writing talents: just like the character Felton in the later chapters, I had been thoroughly seduced by the character of Milady. Milady's latest victim...was me!

#Conclusion

I'm glad to have finally read The Three Musketeers. I am encouraged to try to find some of Dumas' less-popular stories, including The Last Cavalier at some point.

CJ Sansom, the popular crime author who created the character Matthew Shardlake, has died aged 71.

The historical novelist, whose full name was Christopher John Sansom, died on Saturday, according to his publisher Pan Macmillan.

His Tudor murder-mystery novels have recently been adapted to the screen by Disney+, with the first season to be released on Wednesday.

­Sansom’s first novel, Dissolution, featuring the lawyer-turned-­detective Shardlake, dub­bed the “Tudor Morse”, was published 21 years ago.

He wrote six further novels featuring Shardlake and two standalone historical novels, Winter in Madrid, and Dominion.

Sansom recently won the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for his outstanding contribution to the genre.

There are more than three million copies of his books in print, according to his publisher.

We wanted to invite other Lemmy readers to join us in a reading challenge, we have tried to structure this so it’s very flexible with regards to genre, and we don’t require you to join or post on !books@lemmy.world. We had just put in the work to make it and thought we could share the fun. (Admins/Mods please feel free to delete if inappropriate or unwelcome) cross-posted from: https://literature.cafe/post/9497120

Want to read more, but need motivation or direction? Want to gamify or expand your reading? Try book bingo! Our hope with this challenge is to provide a fun way for you to keep up with your reading goals throughout the next 12 months.

How does it work?

The goal is to read something that fits the theme for each bingo square in any single row, column, or corner diagonal of your choice (one work per theme/square). If you would like to, you’re welcome to complete the entire card (or multiple cards). But to clarify, normal bingo rules apply, you only need 5 in a row for a bingo.

Since this is about helping you along in your reading journey, there’s no requirement to read any particular kind of work. Prefer a different format, like graphic novels or audio books? Go for it. Want to read in a different language? Cool. Only have time or energy for single short stories. That’s fine, too. You can read fiction of any genre, nonfiction of any topic, books of poetry, or whatever else interests you, as long as it works for the square. We wanted this to be as open and flexible as possible, to be welcoming to as many people as possible.

We hope you’ll participate in the community throughout the year by sharing how you’re doing with bingo, helping others with suggestions, and posting your feelings about what you’re reading in dedicated threads or the weekly "What are you reading?" thread.

In mid-April, 2025, we'll put up a turn-in post to collect what everyone's been reading; we'll be using that thread to put together a summary, once the bingo period ends. Additionally, if there's a way to provide community flair or some other recognition to participants, that's how we'll determine eligibility. So, if you want to be counted and/or recognized, please make sure to contribute to that post, even if you've made other bingo posts or comments during the year!

Rules

• You must read a different work for every square you complete, even across multiple cards. There is no conflict, however, with overlapping other reading challenges that aren't associated with c/Books.
• Repeating authors on the same card isn’t forbidden (especially for the “There Is Another…” and “Same Author, New Work” squares), but we encourage you to read as new to you or different authors for every square on a card.
• Likewise, we encourage you to primarily read things you haven’t read before.
• If you’re having trouble filling a certain square, we’ve provided a few alternates you can substitute in (see below). Please limit your substitutions to one per card.
• The 2024 Bingo period lasts May 1st, 2024 – April 30th, 2025. Anything you finish during that time period is eligible, as long as you were no more than halfway through on May 1st.

Upping the Difficulty

Want an additional challenge? Try one of these, or come up with a variation of your own (and share them!).

• Hard Mode: Each square description includes an optional extra restriction to the theme, which you can do or ignore on a square-by-square basis. It's up to you!
• Genre Mode: Read only one genre.
• Review Mode: Write a review (ratings alone don’t count) for the books you read for bingo, either here on c/Books, a personal blog, Bookwyrm, The Storygraph, Hardcover.app, or elsewhere.

The Card

Link to a bigger copy

The Squares

Row 1

• 1A - Older Than You Are: Published before your birthdate. HARD MODE: Published before 1924.
• 1B - Water, Water Everywhere: The title refers to some form or body of water. HARD MODE: Not liquid water.
• 1C - What’s Yours Is Mine: Theft, piracy, fraud, or espionage is a major topic or plot point. HARD MODE: No MacGuffins.
• 1D - Family Drama: Family is important, but sometimes it's also the cause of problems. Family dynamics are fundamental to the narrative. HARD MODE: Involves three or more generations of family members.
• 1E - It Takes Two: Written by two or more authors. HARD MODE: Written by three or more authors.

Row 2

• 2A - New Release: New for 2024/2025 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: This is the first work you've read by this author.
• 2B - Plays With Words: Written in a stylistically unconventional way. HARD MODE: Fits the definition of Experimental Literature.
• 2C - Independent Author: Self-published by the author. Works later published though a conventional publishing house don't count unless you are reading it before the switch, and it's republished before April 30th, 2025. HARD MODE: Not published via Amazon Kindle Direct.
• 2D - Bookception: Features a book-related aspect. HARD MODE: Something other than a book, like an author or library.
• 2E - Disability Representation: A main character has or gains a disability to which they must adapt. This disability must be grounded in reality: if a 4,000 year old Prince of the Shokan lost an arm, that would count; if he became a werewolf, it would not. HARD MODE: The piece is at least partially from their perspective.

Row 3

• 3A - Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie: A light, popcorn-worthy read that’s not real deep (see also “beach read” and “airport novel”). HARD MODE: You actually read it while on a vacation/staycation.
• 3B - Stranger in a Strange Land: The primary PoV is dropped into a completely unfamiliar situation or location. HARD MODE: Not portal fiction or isekai.
• 3C - One Less: A book that’s been on your TBR list for a long time. HARD MODE: Overlaps with at least one other bingo square theme.
• 3D - There Is Another…: Not the first in a series. HARD MODE: Series has 5 or more entries.
• 3E - LGBTQIA+ Lead: A main character identifies as LGBTQIA+. HARD MODE: Includes a significant romance between characters that identify as LGBTQIA+.

Row 4

• 4A - Now a Major Motion Picture: The work has been adapted into a show or single episode, movie, play, audio drama, or other format. HARD MODE: The adaptation is regarded as better than the original work.
• 4B - It’s About Time: The passage or manipulation of time is a major theme or plot driver. HARD MODE: Backward in time, not forward.
• 4C - Award Winner: Has won a significant literature award. HARD MODE: More than one award.
• 4D - Mashup: A combination of two or more genres or non-fiction topics. HARD MODE: Unusual combo, like fantasy thriller.
• 4E - Local to You: The author lives in or writes about a location local to you (city, state, province, territory, etc.). HARD MODE: The author has spent a significant amount of time there, but wasn't born there.

Row 5

• 5A - Debut Work: An author’s first work. HARD MODE: The author is widely regarded as having a profound impact on the genre/topic.
• 5B - It's a Holiday: Takes place during a specific holiday, which is significant to the plot. HARD MODE: Not Christmas, a fictional variation of Christmas, or other winter festival.
• 5C - Institutional: Set at a non-commercial institution or facility, like a school, science lab, or prison. HARD MODE: Not a school.
• 5D - Minority Author: Minority or LGBTQIA+ author. A minority can be any member of a generally underrepresented population where you live. HARD MODE: Minority and LGBTQIA+.
• 5E - Among the Stars: Features space, astronomy, or stardom. HARD MODE: The title references the theme, too.

Alternates

These are available as swaps if one of the categories is difficult for your chosen genre, or if it fits better with your reading preferences. There is no obligation to do these otherwise.

• Same Author, New Work: An author you’ve read before, but a series (or standalone) you haven’t. HARD MODE: Give an author you didn’t like a second chance.
• She Blinded Me With Science: The author has a background and degree in a hard science. HARD MODE: More than one post graduate degree.
• Pseudonymous Work: Published under a pen name. HARD MODE: The author generally never writes under their own name.
• Translated: Not originally in your native tongue. HARD MODE: Has been translated into at least ten other languages. This Wikipedia page is a good place to start for widely translated works.
• A Change in Perspective: Written in third-person perspective. HARD MODE: Second-person perspective.

Resources

If you make or find any bingo-related resources, ping or DM me so I can add them here. Thanks!

• 2024 Bingo Recommendations List
• The Storygraph Reading Challenge - You don’t need to use The Storygraph or any other reading tracker to do this challenge, this is just an additional support tool for those interested.

Appreciation

• This challenge is inspired by, but totally separate from, the one run by r/Fantasy on Reddit. We deeply appreciate the past organizers and the work they did that we are now benefitting from.
• Thank you for so much to misericordiae for the design and production of the card.
• 2024 bingo card font credits: Bungee Shade, by David Jonathan Ross; Roboto Condensed, by Christian Robertson.

cross-posted from: https://mstdn.social/users/compoundchem/statuses/112053145362352366

Image description: Infographic on the aroma of books. The smell of old books is produced by the gradual breakdown of cellulose and lignin in paper. Type of paper and age of the book affect the compounds produced, which include furfural, vanillin and benzaldehyde. The aroma of new books is equally variable, the compounds causing it coming from adhesives, inks, and chemicals used for paper treatment. Many of these chemicals are odorless themselves, but can react and contribute to the release of aroma chemicals.

(Originally published earlier today on mstdn.social) - Click the Fedi-Link to visit.

About the book: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/c08dd045-da79-4980-b2df-793ca92bd8dd

My review

Time to go back to good old crime novels, including a twist (lesbians. the twist is lesbians.).

I’ve already talked about how funnily enough, I consider most crime novels uplifting, as long as the grueling horrors aren’t too detailed. Their structure is very clear-cut and they’re not taking any risks, usually, following a very neat timeline of « oh no, someone died! », « oh no, things are getting worse! » (which may or may not include other people dying, or terrible family secrets being revealed, this novel being in the latter category), and « ah, justice has been brought! » (sometimes by murdering the murderer, because crime novels support the death penalty, i guess).

You’d think that with such a cookie-cutter scenario, thrillers wouldn’t be able to surprise me.

And yet!!

In Speak of the Devil, seven women find the body. They could all be the murderer. One of them is in a weird off and on again relationship with the local cop, Woman Number 8, who will investigate the case. And the seven women agree that, whoever committed that murder, they’ll all be in trouble if they don’t all cover for each other.

Except that the cop is smart, and the others make mistakes, and thinks will slowly unravel, and by the end of the novel, we won’t be sure what is even going on anymore.

~~The death penalty is extremely wrong! But also, whew, I’d also behead that guy.~~

Loads of content warnings because this is a feminist crime novel, including a beheading in the prologue, and horrific (and impressingly diverse) forms of abuse throughout the entire story.

On my website: https://alexsirac.com/speak-of-the-devil/

The first 10 of 50…

1. Check this place out, it’s dope

2. Technology solves problems 🤩 (future good)

3. Technology creates problems 😕 (future bad)

4. A world much like our own where some subtle differences highlight humanity/reality/society/perception

5. What if your cock was a bomb?

6. Rockets are not phallic, please stop saying that

7. Here is why religion is bad

8. Homestuck

9. Four thousand pages on the adventures of Prentiss Plum, a space pirate, scientist, and award-winning Virgo

10. Winking parody that doubles down on sexbots

…

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/6599809

Reading stories regularly strengthens social-cognitive skills—such as empathy—in both children and adults. And this, in turn, ensures that we can empathize with characters more effectively and more quickly when we are reading. This is the subject of linguist Lynn Eekhof's Ph.D., which she will receive at Radboud University on 15 January. "I think we need to capitalize more on the wonder of what stories do, rather than merely seeing reading as a practical skill."

cross-posted from: https://literature.cafe/post/5745653

cross-posted from: c/ebookdeals @ Literature.cafe

Discover Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld, the beloved comic fantasy universe that’s brimming with wit, wisdom, and wonder. Start where it all began in the seminal novel The Color of Magic, which follows the misadventures of the inept wizard Rincewind as he serves as tour guide to Twoflower, Discworld's first-ever sightseer. The hapless duo’s journeys continue in The Light Fantastic and Sourcery, where the scale of world-threatening hazards (and accompanying absurdities) increase exponentially. You’ll get over 35 Discworld novels in all, touching all corners of this whimsical realm and all manner of its denizens, and you’ll help Room to Read with your purchase!

**The titles in this bundle are available through Kobo.com. To access the content, create or log in to your Kobo.com account.

This bundle is only available to those in the US.**

Basically the title. I always feel like winter is a nice season for cosy reading, curious to see your suggestions

I do not see how to tag for spoiler here so

SPOLIER ALERT

"Bag of Bones" delves deeply into the theme of grief as its protagonist, Mike Noonan, grapples with the sudden loss of his wife. The book explores Mike's emotional turmoil, guilt, and attempts to find solace. The supernatural elements, such as ghostly visions and eerie occurrences, serve as metaphors for the haunting impact of loss in the grieving process.

The book beautifully portrays the ways in which grief can unravel a person's life, affecting relationships and one's sense of self. Through Mike's journey, you can witness the complexities of mourning, as he navigates the painful process of letting go while also uncovering the secrets of his wife's past. Bag of Bones offers a poignant exploration of how grief can be all-encompassing, shaping characters and driving them to confront both personal demons and external mysteries.

This book made me cry ... repeatedly. And I hadn't cried in years. It's not one of King's major works. Neither is it particularly a fan favourite nor is it a critical success, but it's possibly my favorite King book.

Mort is a funny, heartwarming introduction to Death, one of the major Discworld characters. It starts off with Death deciding to take on an apprentice, Mort. Turns out, Death loves curry, has an adopted daughter, Ysabell, and gets REALLY UPSET and VERY ANGRY indeed when people harm or kill cats and kittens. And he rides a horse who is most adorably named Binky.

After starting on his new job and getting acquainted with Death’s household consisting of Ysabell and his servant Albert, Mort starts to realise that one of the reasons for Death taking on an apprentice was so that Ysabell would have a companion to talk with. After showing him the ropes so to speak, Death starts to send Mort on solo missions. One of the souls he has to usher into the beyond is that of young Princess Keli who is about to be assassinated by an assassin sent by her uncle. Unfortunately, Mort falls for the princess and in order to save her kills the assassin instead, thus interfering with fate, precisely something he had been told not to do. Mort is too scared to confess to Death about what he has done, so he just stays silent. Unluckily for him, reality of the history that was to be starts to resist the reality of what Mort has done, leading to the possibility that Princess Keli, whom Mort had saved, might end up dying. So now Mort tries his best to somehow save the princess’ life.

Some of my favourite things about this book are the style of humour and getting to know Death. Death is a cat loving anthropomorphic personification making sometimes refreshing, sometimes very insightful takes about mortals and existence in general:

"TAKE THESE THINGS, NOW, said Death, fingering a passing canapé. I MEAN, MUSHROOMS YES, CHICKEN YES, CREAM YES, I’VE NOTHING AGAINST ANY OF THEM, BUT WHY IN THE NAME OF SANITY MINCE THEM ALL UP AND PUT THEM IN LITTLE PASTRY CASES? ‘Pardon?’ said Mort. THAT’S MORTALS FOR YOU, Death continued. THEY’VE ONLY GOT A FEW YEARS IN THIS WORLD AND THEY SPEND THEM ALL IN MAKING THINGS COMPLICATED FOR THEMSELVES. FASCINATING. HAVE A GHERKIN.”

“He gave it an experimental shake. AND DUE TO LIVE ANOTHER THIRTY, THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, he said, with a sigh. ‘And he goes around killing people?’ said Mort. He shook his head. ‘There’s no justice.’ Death sighed. NO, he said, handing his drink to a page who was surprised to find he was suddenly holding an empty glass, THERE’S JUST ME.”

Death also happens to be very keen on trying to understand more about humans and various human activities, such as how people have fun. This leads to some unintentionally hilarious circumstances: “WHAT IS THIS FUN? ‘This is!’ TO KICK VIGOROUSLY IS FUN? ‘Well, part of the fun. Kick!’ TO HEAR LOUD MUSIC IN HOT ROOMS IS FUN? ‘Possibly.’ HOW IS THIS FUN MANIFEST? ‘Well, it – look, either you’re having fun or you’re not, you don’t have to ask me, you just know, all right? How did you get in here, anyway?’ he added. ‘Are you a friend of the Patrician?’ LET US SAY, HE PUTS BUSINESS MY WAY. I FELT I OUGHT TO LEARN SOMETHING OF HUMAN PLEASURES. ‘Sounds like you’ve got a long way to go.’ I KNOW. PLEASE EXCUSE MY LAMENTABLE IGNORANCE. I WISH ONLY TO LEARN. ALL THESE PEOPLE, PLEASE – THEY ARE HAVING FUN? ‘Yes!’ THEN THIS IS FUN. ‘I’m glad we got that sorted out. Mind the chair,’ snapped Lord Rodley, who was now feeling very unfunny and unpleasantly sober. A voice behind him said quietly: THIS IS FUN. TO DRINK EXCESSIVELY IS FUN. WE ARE HAVING FUN. HE IS HAVING FUN. THIS IS SOME FUN. WHAT FUN.” As the story progresses, it starts getting clearer that the loneliness of his job was getting to him, providing some clue to Death’s actual intentions for hiring Mort: "‘Drowning your sorrows, are you? I HAVE NO SORROWS. ‘No, of course not. Forget I mentioned it.’ He gave the glass a few more wipes. ‘Just thought it helps to have someone to talk to,’ he said. The stranger was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he said: YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME? ‘Yes. Sure. I’m a good listener.’ NO ONE EVER WANTED TO TALK TO ME BEFORE. ‘That’s a shame.’ THEY NEVER INVITE ME TO PARTIES, YOU KNOW. ‘Tch.’ THEY ALL HATE ME. EVERYONE HATES ME. I DON’T HAVE A SINGLE FRIEND.” After all, his job was such that “Death must be the loneliest creature in the universe. In the great party of Creation, he was always in the kitchen.”

This is followed by an interesting and humorous phase of Death actually trying to find an alternate job for himself. He ultimately ends up getting the job of a cook at "Harga’s House of Ribs down by the docks” where he thoroughly enjoyed himself as he “spun and whirled, chopping, slicing and frying. His skillet flashed through the fetid steam. He’d opened the door to the cold night air, and a dozen neighbourhood cats had strolled in, attracted by the bowls of milk and meat – some of Harga’s best, if he’d known – that had been strategically placed around the floor. Occasionally Death would pause in his work and scratch one of them behind the ears. ‘Happiness,’ he said, and puzzled at the sound of his own voice.” This leads to a truly hilarious scene when as a result of being summoned during the Rite of AshkEnte, Death appears “wearing an apron and holding a small kitten.”

Death’s efforts with trying to find work that he would actually enjoy doing and Mort’s princess problem inevitably collide leading to a satisfying conclusion. This is the second time I am reading this book and I think I enjoyed and loved it even more than I did the first time around. I would love to share some more jokes here, but then I would probably end up copy-pasting the whole book! This book definitely does the job of making me laugh and feeling a little better than usual.

It's not much to go on, but I'm hoping someone either remembers or has better Google-fu than I do.

Some time in the late 80s or early 90s I read a YA book about a teen-ish girl in the Aluetian Islands. My most vivid memory is of her description of crabs, calling some "Jimmies," and going into extraordinary detail about the fishing process. I have the shadow of a memory that she was the first girl/woman to embark on fishing.

That's all I have to go on. Ring any bells?

I love Charco Press and really liked this novel, so I wrote a review for it.

Fathers and Sons by Turgenev (Richard Freeborn translation) is an interesting character study of Bazarov, a self-proclaimed nihilist in the backdrop of the ideological differences between the “fathers” and “sons”. The “fathers” and “sons” in the title refer to the two different generations of the liberals and the nihilists, respectively. The ideological differences between the two generations, as depicted through the clash between Bazarov and Pavel, constitutes one of the major themes of the novel. It also looks at the inevitability of the generational gap between the sons (Bazarov and Arkady) and their respective fathers, and the futility of trying to reject emotions.

The book is short and has a very simple plot. It opens with Nikolai Petrovich awaiting his son Arkady's return from university, whom he receives accompanied by his friend, Bazarov who aspires to be a country doctor. It soon becomes clear that both youngsters subscribe to the philosophy of nihilism, in which Arkady considers himself to be Bazarov’s “pupil”. According to them “nihilist” is: “‘He is a nihilist,’ repeated Arkady. ‘A nihilist,’ said Nikolai Petrovich. ‘That’s from the Latin nihil, nothing, so far as I can judge. Therefore, the word denotes a man who … who doesn’t recognize anything?’ ‘Say, rather, who doesn’t respect anything,’ added Pavel Petrovich and once more busied himself with the butter. ‘Who approaches everything from a critical point of view,’ remarked Arkady.....nihilist is a man who doesn’t acknowledge any authorities, who doesn’t accept a single principle on faith, no matter how much that principle may be surrounded by respect.’" Frequent clashes ensue, especially between Bazarov and Arkady’s uncle, Pavel Petrovich, who finds Bazarov’s rejection of principles absolutely loathsome. Their exchanges regarding their philosophical differences were quite interesting to read. I especially found one of their exchanges, in which Bazarov was forced into a corner, quite thought-provoking:

""I see,’ interrupted Pavel Petrovich, ‘I see. Meaning you’re convinced of all this and have decided for yourselves not to do anything serious about anything.’ ‘And we’ve decided not to do anything about anything,’ Bazarov repeated sombrely. He had suddenly grown annoyed with himself for having talked so much in front of this lordly gentleman. ‘And just swear at everything?’ ‘And swear at everything.’ ‘And that’s called nihilism?’ ‘And that’s called nihilism,’ "

Bazarov rejects any form of emotions, art and philosophy as “romanticism” and hence just nonsense. Strangely, someone supposedly accepting only cold hard facts had this to say about science: "I’ve already told you that I don’t believe in anything. And what’s this thing called science, science in general? There are sciences as there are trades and vocations. But science in general doesn’t exist at all.’" About love and romance: “.... And what’s all this about the mysterious relationships between a man and a woman? We physiologists know all about these relationships. Just you study the anatomy of the eye—where’s all this enigmatic look, as you call it, come from? It’s all romanticism, nonsense, rubbish, artiness…” In this quarter, he is brought to his knees by Anna Sargeevna Odintsova, whom they first meet at a ball. Odintsova is a beautiful, self-possessed, intelligent woman, previously acquainted with Arkady’s parents, that Bazarov ends up falling in love with. According to Bazarov, "If you like a woman’, he was fond of saying, ‘then try and get what you can. If you can’t, well, no matter, give her up—there are plenty of fish in the sea.’ but then, “....he found he hadn’t the strength to ‘give her up’. His blood was set on fire as soon as he thought about her." He felt disgusted to recognise such romantic feelings in himself. In my opinion, Bazarov is just a very young man gifted with intelligence but afflicted with extreme intellectual arrogance. The characters of both Bazarov and Odintsova are quite well-drawn. Arkady initially comes across as Bazarov’s sidekick, looking up to and almost blindly following his teacher's philosophy. However, as the story progresses, he starts to think for himself. He also starts to see Bazarov’s self-conceit more clearly and moreover why he likes to keep Arkady around: "‘Look, mate, I see you’re still bloody silly. We need Sitnikovs. I—know what I mean?—I need such cretins. It’s not for the Gods, in fact, to bake the pots!’ Aha! thought Arkady—and it was only at this moment that the entire limitless depth of Bazarov’s conceit was revealed to him—So you and I are the Gods, are we? That’s to say, you’re the God and maybe I’m the cretin?"

One of the things I really liked about this book was how beautifully the father-son relationship from the father’s POV was depicted, in the case of Nikolai Petrovich and Arkady. This was Nikolai contemplating the generational gap he was observing between him and his son: "For the first time he was clearly aware of the rift between him and his son. He had a foreboding that with each passing day it would become greater and greater. It turned out that he’d spent days on end one winter in St Petersburg reading away at the latest works of fiction all for nothing; all for nothing had he listened to the conversations of the young men; all for nothing had he been overjoyed when he’d succeeded in inserting his own word into their bubbling talk…..He walked to and fro a great deal, almost to the point of exhaustion, but the sense of peril within him, a kind of searching, indefinite, melancholy disquiet, would not lessen. Oh, how Bazarov would have laughed at him if he’d known what was going on inside him at that moment! Arkady himself would have condemned him. Tears, pointless tears were forming in his eyes, in the eyes of a man of forty-four, an agronomist and landowner—and that was a hundred times worse than playing the cello!"

On the whole, this was a quick and pleasant read featuring interesting characters. My only gripe was not getting to read the internal monologues of characters in typical POV style because of which they felt more distant.

Overview: 3.5/5 stars

This book talks about difficult themes in the history of Africa and then US, centered around discrimination and exploitation. The book follows a variety if people along the last three centuries that dealt with various elements of discrimination, with slavery being a central theme.

While the topic in interesting, the writing style felt mostly flat to me. The characters were human, but it felt most of them were objects of their own lives instead of subjects. It seems they suffered not only from the outside world but also a lack of inner development. That was true not only of the characters that had limited to no agency, but also of the ones that had freedom and took revolutionary actions: they all felt limited and fairly unengaging.

From the more academic perspective, it gives glimpses of philosophical debates in the history of African Americans. This was the but I personally enjoyed the most.

All in all, an okay book about an interesting and well-researched topic.