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andrewspink's reviews
553 reviews
Schoonheid en kracht by Tim Krabbé
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Volgens de uitgever is dit boekje een literaire juweeltje. En dat klopt.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I had read some rather negative reviews about this book, so I wasn't sure about it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. Not so much for the story; I'm not so keen on magic and fantasy - although the influence of Indian mythology did make that more interesting, but more for the writing. Rushdie writes in long complex sentences, sometimes with unusual words, and they are a delight to read.
Apparently, the less magical aspects of the story are based on historical reality, including the mass funeral pyres, war elephants and an empire defeated in 1565.
It is a bizarre coincidence that two of the characters are blinded by an iron rod and that Rushdie himself was blinded in one eye by a knife attack shortly after the book was published. Sometimes reality is even wierder than Rushdie's fiction.
Apparently, the less magical aspects of the story are based on historical reality, including the mass funeral pyres, war elephants and an empire defeated in 1565.
It is a bizarre coincidence that two of the characters are blinded by an iron rod and that Rushdie himself was blinded in one eye by a knife attack shortly after the book was published. Sometimes reality is even wierder than Rushdie's fiction.
Being A Beast by Charles Foster
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Charles Foster is clearly a complete nutter, which made for an interesting book. In order to determine what it is like to be various animals, he lives in a hole in the ground and eats earthworms for some months to see what it is like to be a badger and or vomiting his food up so that he would know what it was like to be an animal that chews the cud, like a deer.
Quite early on, he concludes that he cannot really feel what it is like to have the auditory world of a badger, 'not because of physiology but of otherness'. Despite that, he goes on to project a whole lot of his own emotions and feelings into what it must be like to be a badger or deer. It is only really in the final chapter, about swifts, where he concludes that swifts are so other that he cannot get inside their heads. My problem with this book is not that he says that animals have emotions. He says that professional biologists disapproved of that statement. That might have been the case a few decades ago, but by the time this book was published in 2016, very few behavioural biologists would oppose the term. My problem is that he does not sufficiently allow the animals to have their own emotions and tries to make everything fit into his own range of experience, an endeavour necessarily fated to fail. He describes how he goes through various contortions trying to understand what the sensory world of an animal that has whiskers might be like, but in the end seeing we don't have that sense, it is literally beyond our imagination. It is really not like feeling with our hands, that we do know (and I should mention that I am a co-author on a paper recently published about whiskers!).
He states at one point that otters don't experience pain. That is a very bizarre and ungrounded statement. All animals (possibly excluding insects), but certainly mammals, reptiles, fish and birds, feel pain.
He says that foxes can leap 3m, which is equivalent to him jumping 8m. This is an unfortunately common mistake made by nature programmes on the TV and by popular sciences books. This comparison misapplies scaling laws. The ability to jump does not scale linearly with size because the physics of jumping involves factors like muscle strength, body mass, and energy expenditure, which do not scale in a simple linear fashion.
He also doesn't understand red-green colour blindness. Like 8% of human males, I am red-green colour-blind. That does not mean that I see everything in grey scale, far from it. It means something like that sometimes red is rather like a shade of green.
Finally, he gives space to the ideas of Rupert Sheldrake. His ideas were discredited decades ago, I don't think anyone who has actually looked into the so-called evidence for them takes them seriously these days.
Nevertheless, having said all that, those are minor quibbles and this was a though-provoking book which I enjoyed reading.
Quite early on, he concludes that he cannot really feel what it is like to have the auditory world of a badger, 'not because of physiology but of otherness'. Despite that, he goes on to project a whole lot of his own emotions and feelings into what it must be like to be a badger or deer. It is only really in the final chapter, about swifts, where he concludes that swifts are so other that he cannot get inside their heads. My problem with this book is not that he says that animals have emotions. He says that professional biologists disapproved of that statement. That might have been the case a few decades ago, but by the time this book was published in 2016, very few behavioural biologists would oppose the term. My problem is that he does not sufficiently allow the animals to have their own emotions and tries to make everything fit into his own range of experience, an endeavour necessarily fated to fail. He describes how he goes through various contortions trying to understand what the sensory world of an animal that has whiskers might be like, but in the end seeing we don't have that sense, it is literally beyond our imagination. It is really not like feeling with our hands, that we do know (and I should mention that I am a co-author on a paper recently published about whiskers!).
He states at one point that otters don't experience pain. That is a very bizarre and ungrounded statement. All animals (possibly excluding insects), but certainly mammals, reptiles, fish and birds, feel pain.
He says that foxes can leap 3m, which is equivalent to him jumping 8m. This is an unfortunately common mistake made by nature programmes on the TV and by popular sciences books. This comparison misapplies scaling laws. The ability to jump does not scale linearly with size because the physics of jumping involves factors like muscle strength, body mass, and energy expenditure, which do not scale in a simple linear fashion.
He also doesn't understand red-green colour blindness. Like 8% of human males, I am red-green colour-blind. That does not mean that I see everything in grey scale, far from it. It means something like that sometimes red is rather like a shade of green.
Finally, he gives space to the ideas of Rupert Sheldrake. His ideas were discredited decades ago, I don't think anyone who has actually looked into the so-called evidence for them takes them seriously these days.
Nevertheless, having said all that, those are minor quibbles and this was a though-provoking book which I enjoyed reading.
The trail to nowhere: Life and death along the Colorado trail by Quentin Septer
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.0
As a keen mountain biker, I was looking forward to reading this book. The book's main achievement was that the author did a good job of conveying why it is that most mountain bikers cycle. It is not for the thrill of the adrenaline rush (which is probably what you would believe from watching YouTube films on the subject) so much as the joy of being in nature, in the woods or the mountains, not shut off from the natural world like in a car and going faster than walking, so that you can see more.
The book is also very much about how the author started to come to terms with the death of his father during the ride. To be honest, I found that a little repetitive and not so helpful. He clearly worshipped his father, who is presented as a sort of perfect man, rather than a human being 'warts and all'. That meant that his father comes across as rather a two-dimensional and uninteresting character. It is understandable that a boy should see his father like that, especially at that stage in his bereavement, but it is not so helpful for the reader. The theme comes back very often; even when he sees a lake drying up, he was reminded of his father's death.
The book also contains a lot of factual information. Some of it is really interesting, like the scandalous treatment by the US government of the Ute people who were living in Colorado before the European colonists came. Time after time, treaties were made and broken and their lands stolen until there was not enough left to be viable. The author writes that he doesn't know if he should feel responsible for what his ancestors did. The point is that it is what his government did, and that government still bears responsibility for the actions of previous administrations of the same government.
He also writes a lot about the geology and natural history of the places he passes through. As an ecologist, I enjoyed reading about the plants and animals, but I must say that I found the geology dry and rather boring. I caught myself skipping bits. Perhaps he also assumes too much background knowledge of his readers in those sections as well.
There were some strange bits. He describes one of his friends as an obnoxious human being. Why would you do that? He tells the story of how a bunch of criminals shot a judge in 1875 and then a couple of sentences later says that town must have been a wonderful place to live. I guess that is humour or irony, but I wasn't amused, especially in the current political situation in the US. In the prologue he appears to mention that he mountain biked whilst high on cannabis, which is potentially dangerous, but it is presented as normal.
In summary, if you are a mountain biker, or just enjoy walking in the mountains, you will enjoy this book, but perhaps you will also think that it would have benefited from a severe edit to cut out some of the more boring and repetitive sections.
Acknowledgment: I received a free advance review copy of this book from BookSirens in return for an honest review.
The book is also very much about how the author started to come to terms with the death of his father during the ride. To be honest, I found that a little repetitive and not so helpful. He clearly worshipped his father, who is presented as a sort of perfect man, rather than a human being 'warts and all'. That meant that his father comes across as rather a two-dimensional and uninteresting character. It is understandable that a boy should see his father like that, especially at that stage in his bereavement, but it is not so helpful for the reader. The theme comes back very often; even when he sees a lake drying up, he was reminded of his father's death.
The book also contains a lot of factual information. Some of it is really interesting, like the scandalous treatment by the US government of the Ute people who were living in Colorado before the European colonists came. Time after time, treaties were made and broken and their lands stolen until there was not enough left to be viable. The author writes that he doesn't know if he should feel responsible for what his ancestors did. The point is that it is what his government did, and that government still bears responsibility for the actions of previous administrations of the same government.
He also writes a lot about the geology and natural history of the places he passes through. As an ecologist, I enjoyed reading about the plants and animals, but I must say that I found the geology dry and rather boring. I caught myself skipping bits. Perhaps he also assumes too much background knowledge of his readers in those sections as well.
There were some strange bits. He describes one of his friends as an obnoxious human being. Why would you do that? He tells the story of how a bunch of criminals shot a judge in 1875 and then a couple of sentences later says that town must have been a wonderful place to live. I guess that is humour or irony, but I wasn't amused, especially in the current political situation in the US. In the prologue he appears to mention that he mountain biked whilst high on cannabis, which is potentially dangerous, but it is presented as normal.
In summary, if you are a mountain biker, or just enjoy walking in the mountains, you will enjoy this book, but perhaps you will also think that it would have benefited from a severe edit to cut out some of the more boring and repetitive sections.
Acknowledgment: I received a free advance review copy of this book from BookSirens in return for an honest review.
Thriller Weken 2024 by Jet van Vuuren, Lex Noteboom, Floris Kleijne, Angelique Haak, Dominique Biebau
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Nice mix of stories. I liked the one about the dog!
Sloop by Anna Enquist
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm not so keen on books with an anti-hero and I must say that I found the protagonist of this book a bit of an unattractive character. She is repeatedly described as not listening to what people say to her, even when it is important, which is irritating. She is hopelessly naïve when it comes to the relationship with her much older teacher. She internalises the negativity that her mother felt about her. Her weakness is shown in, for instance, her infidelity to Mark.
The switching between different time periods went ok, though I did sometimes get a bit confused about when the passage I was reading took place.
There are also things to like about the book. It is nicely written and easy to read. The insight into how a composer works was very interesting. I wonder how true to life that was, and how much that varies between composers. A lot of the process looked suspiciously like the process of writing a novel, but maybe the creative process is similar? The descriptions of how she was feeling insecure but still came up with a confident answer to her questioners was well done.
The plot was a bit haphazard. What was the point of the fish episode? Was that meant to be an analogy for something else, or was it just irrelevant to the rest? The interaction between the ups and downs of her attempts to have a child and her composition work was credible and interesting. Quite a lot of the plot was rather predictable, for instanceit was obvious that as soon as she stopped the fertility treatments that she would get pregnant which was a shame.
In general, a bit of a mixed bag, but worth reading.
The switching between different time periods went ok, though I did sometimes get a bit confused about when the passage I was reading took place.
There are also things to like about the book. It is nicely written and easy to read. The insight into how a composer works was very interesting. I wonder how true to life that was, and how much that varies between composers. A lot of the process looked suspiciously like the process of writing a novel, but maybe the creative process is similar? The descriptions of how she was feeling insecure but still came up with a confident answer to her questioners was well done.
The plot was a bit haphazard. What was the point of the fish episode? Was that meant to be an analogy for something else, or was it just irrelevant to the rest? The interaction between the ups and downs of her attempts to have a child and her composition work was credible and interesting. Quite a lot of the plot was rather predictable, for instance
In general, a bit of a mixed bag, but worth reading.
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I found this to be a difficult and complicated book, but nevertheless with enough depth and interest to make it worth reading. There are 14 different stories, all told from different points of view and set either in the past or the future. Some have clear connections with each other, for example with some of the same characters, but with others it was harder to see how they belonged. That was what I found difficult. Sometimes I was not quite sure if I was missing something connecting the story. What was quite fun was the use of different genres in the different stories. The philosophical points about the dangers of sharing too much personal information with social media are well made, and a what, for me, raises this book above just a collection of stories to become a heavier weight piece of work.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I understand why this book won prizes, but nevertheless, this was not a book for me. I was bored and had to push myself to get to the end. The style of writing with all those little quotes irritated me. The book had little in the way of a plot, more of a setting, and the characters didn't seem well developed.
Hebben en Zijn by Dimitri Verhulst
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I had a bit of a mixed reaction to this book. On the one hand, it is a nice idea, amusingly written a nd well worked out. On the other hand, the protagonist is rather misogynistic and it is hard to see if the author does that deliberately to show a negative side or whether him viewing women as sex objects is part of a longing for life.
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As always with Margaret Atwood, great prose, which is a delight to read. But I am still not a fan of short stories. In this case, it was not as bad as the same characters come back in several stories, but even so it misses the benefits of a novel.
The short story about the snail was by far my favourite. Great fun and lots of biology thrown in for free.
The short story about the snail was by far my favourite. Great fun and lots of biology thrown in for free.