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Showing posts from November, 2023

house of chains by Steven Erikson

The fourth book in Erikson's Malazan series is interesting for its complex and untypical narrative structure, and although it suffers a bit more than the last three (especially towards the end) from a confusing multiplicity of characters, intrigues, gods, assassinations, and other strange and weird happenings, I still enjoyed it tremendously. 

capote (2006)

This is a movie to watch if you love PSH and character dramas, because it's interesting, beautifully acted, and thoroughly complex, but it's not a movie to watch if you're looking for fun and easy, because  the pacing is slow and undramatic. 

the reagans (2020)

This documentary about the president and his wife was informative and entertaining, especially for someone like me who really enjoys 20th c american history, but I will say that I found the depth of focus simultaneously too light (they could've gone so much deeper with the source material) and too heavy (for what was essentially a glossy summary, it still took 4 hours). 

Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer

A remarkebly cogent, clear picture of what nazi Germany was really like at the top of the command chain, really made it clear how much of a buffoon hitler was, definitely a long book sort of overburdened by endless descriptions of political in-fighting, worth reading for a unique perspective on this important history. 

memories of ice by Steven Erikson

As I blast thru the third book of this incredibly long fantasy epic (up to 26 books across two authors already!), all I can say is that there are altogether too many characters, the world's magic/deity system feels a lot like calvinball, and this could have easily been two whole books - and yet despite all that, I couldn't put it down. 

when we were kings (1996)

Seeing Ali strut his stuff in this documentary was incredible, learning about the foreman fight and seeing footage of it was exhilarating, but for some reason the filmmakers decided that what they really needed was tons of commentary from old white writers george plimpton and norman mailer, and it really subtracted from the themes and tenor of the rest of the story. 

gardens of the moon by Steven Erikson

I have embarked on the first in a very long fantasy series, one which comes with an apology in front by the author for being so dense and inscrutable, and I’m filled with a curious mixture of regret and excitement for being 1/10th of the way through, and now committed, to this fairly entertaining, very time-consuming and mostly useless endeavor.