KATHRYN DI

Crying

Revisado: 12-07-22

I had the near out of body experience of listening to this gut-wrenching book while I had a fever after a Covid booster. This is an out of this world story that cracked my heart open.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Best audio book I've ever listened to

Revisado: 02-16-22

To sum it up: beautiful calming voice, enchanting writing style, enchanting story. I wish I could listen to Merlin every night before sleep for the rest of my life.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

must be listened to, not read

Revisado: 08-02-21

It's David Sedaris! You have to listen to his hilarious accents, impersonations, and intonations. I cannot imagine just reading this as a book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Profound listen

Revisado: 07-29-21

An enchanting and profound listen. The author narrates, as she can pronounce the words of the click language, which is fascinating. This book is profoundly historical: she is one of the last English-speaking researchers/writers to have had a significant interaction with this mother culture before it was, after tens of thousands of years, irrevocably altered. Their lifestyle and culture will never again exist as it did in the 1950's - the finality of the change is awe-inspiring to contemplate. One finds oneself feeling a deep, intimate connection with the Ju/hoansi, imagining oneself as they were, imagining that we were all just like they were, imagining that we can be like them again, not in the exact material form they lived in, but in the social and spiritual structure of egalitarianism and ritual healing. Thomas has an extremely sophisticated point of view (shared by her brother) about the post-50's cultural change, arguing that Westerners harm the Ju/hoansi by insisting on believing they can, through ill-informed, patronizing, and selfish philanthropy, restore them to their hunter-gatherer state. That said, know that this book is very much the kind of book that is great for falling asleep to, though it is not dry at all - the majority of it is about the 1950s-era Ju/hoansi, narrated in the calm, resonant voice of the older Thomas. I got this title after hearing it recommended by Sy Montgomery in her 7/13/2021 interview on the podcast The Ezra Klein Show about her book The Soul Of An Octopus; she is personal friends with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Managed to combine Lord John and Outlander

Revisado: 01-04-21

It seems Gabaldon is writing three trilogies - the first three Outlander books maintained a fast tempo and could be called adventure books. The second three sited the protagonists mostly in the same location, which for readers trained by the first three to expect that fast tempo comes off as constraining them. The second three are good, enjoyable books, but you get the sense of deceleration that is accompanied by a little disappointment at the loss of the previous pace. But then you hit the seventh book, what seems to be the beginning of a third trilogy, that restores the quick pace of the first trilogy, making it feel more classically Outlander. What seems to have happened in the period of the second set of three is the author channeled her adventure writing into a spinoff series based on the Lord John Grey character, and then stitched the Outlander series together with it in this seventh book. The feeling that this is happening, for someone who has not read the spinoff, is a bit jarring at first - you really observe that the author is trying to get in enough backstory and character development into an Outlander book to catch the reader up on and make her care about the Lord John Grey universe. There doesn't appear to be really enough space for this and the writing often seems to be referencing backstories you know nothing about. But given that there are over a hundred chapters, by the last quarter of the novel the reader actually is fairly caught up and the many storylines of the first perhaps half of the book, which seemed disconnected, come together. It does seem a bit contrived, but whatever disjointed sensation the abrupt insertion of unfamiliar storylines and characters effects is made up for by the restoration of the adventure book feeling to the Outlander series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Depth of male characters

Revisado: 09-09-20

So long, but that's good because the story is complex and filled out - somehow more satisfying than the 4th book, Drums of Autumn, which was shorter. This one has a lot of descriptions of the human body and day to day life with an emphasis on caring for children. I have to say that I've never read a book with this much emphasis on children or the body before. It was fascinating because it's so rare - this is a book by a woman that is at the end of the day principally from the perspective of women. The male characters, while often strong, handsome, and fighting, are often described as genuinely making mistakes they are sorry for, having accidents, getting captured and needing rescue, getting hurt and sick and weak, and feeling a wide range of intense emotions, from loneliness to poeticism to affection for other men. And there are a great many scenes of the men taking care of and playing with the children. Just rare to see. And very much appreciated - not as a statement or corrective, but as simply good writing, good entertainment. We readers want this material.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Depth of male characters

Revisado: 09-09-20

So long, but that's good because the story is complex and filled out - somehow more satisfying than the 4th book, Drums of Autumn, which was shorter. This one has a lot of descriptions of the human body and day to day life with an emphasis on caring for children. I have to say that I've never read a book with this much emphasis on children or the body before. It was fascinating because it's so rare - this is a book by a woman that is at the end of the day principally from the perspective of women. The male characters, while often strong, handsome, and fighting, are often described as genuinely making mistakes they are sorry for, having accidents, getting captured and needing rescue, getting hurt and sick and weak, and feeling a wide range of intense emotions, from loneliness to poeticism to affection for other men. And there are a great many scenes of the men taking care of and playing with the children. Just rare to see. And very much appreciated - not as a statement or corrective, but as simply good writing, good entertainment. We readers want this material.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

cliches, mismatched narration

Revisado: 07-16-20

Narration voice is equivalent of a punchable face. Perplexing choice for the writing of a spiritual leader.

Warning on the book itself -- it's a collection of short observations or pieces of advice or life rules. Usually these statements are trite, even cliche -- generic things you've heard many times before, strung together. I was wondering what was going on until the author explained that he was Korean writing for a Korean audience, and I googled him and see that he is popular in Korea. This is a guess, but maybe his perspective is novel specifically in Korea. For example, he exhorts readers to not knock religions other than Buddhism and not be over materialistic in traditional religious practices (e.g. asking a divine being for a favor in exchange for a material sacrifice). After a while it kind of seems like the Western self-help canon (as well as some contemporary progressive Western religious ideas) have been spliced into Buddhism -- as opposed to a lot of books written by Western authors, where they splice Buddhism into Western self help advice to make it seem more authoritative/esoteric.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

davina potter's narration is the best ever

Revisado: 07-09-20

You've got to listen to Outlander for Davina Porter's narration alone. You don't know audio book narration unless you've heard her.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

davina potter's narration is the best ever

Revisado: 07-09-20

You've got to listen to Outlander for Davina Porter's narration alone. You don't know audio book narration unless you've heard her.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña