Ship of Fools: A Novel | 
panY'all, there are some books whose greatest pleasure is the knowledge that, having read them, you'll never feel obliged to read them again.
This was the bestselling novel in the US in 1962 despite lacking all qualities one associates with bestsellers, except length. It has some very good literary writing and some memorable scenes, but its unpleasant characters, lack of plot, and general aimlessness make it feel even longer than it is.
The port town of Veracruz is a little purgatory between land and sea for the traveler, but the people who live there are very fond of themselves and the town they helped to make.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
I'm in. A couple Id like to finish:
Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
Hänschen klein, ging allein by Hans Massaquoi
I don't know what gets read after that, but candidates are:
Temper by Nicky Drayden
Outbreaks and Epidemics by Meera Senthilingham
The Floating Opera by John Barth
Just South of Home by Karen Strong
#FabulousFebruary
@Andrew65
#bookmail. Thriftbooks! Usually by the time they arrive I‘ve forgotten what/who is the reason I bought it. Time and Again is a reread. Ship of Fools is #doublespin. The other two look good!
Four books from the New York Times Best sellers list, that were #populartheyearIwasborn. The tagged book is the only one I‘veread yet. #auldlangreads @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620
The place you are going towards doesn‘t exist yet, you must build it when you come to the right spot.
pickA powerful novel set in 1931 aboard a German ship travelling for a month between Mexico & Germany, with sharp insights into the frailties of a large cast of characters, together at close quarters. I felt totally immersed in this 22-hour #audiobook, read by Grace Conlin. Katherine Anne Porter: “I believe that human beings are capable of total evil, but no one has ever been totally good; and this gives the edge to evil.”
The past is never where you think you left it: you are not the same person you were yesterday.
People can't hear anything except when it's nonsense. Then they hear every word. If you try to talk sense, they think you don't mean it, or don't know anything anyway, or it's not true, or it's against religion, or it's not what they are used to reading in the newspapers...
(Image: detail from Hieronymus Bosch‘s Ship of Fools)
He‘s NEVER in the #mood to have his orders or even his opinions, questioned! #quotsyfeb18 @TK-421
Almost everyone on the Vera could be considered a #nosyneighbor but I particularly thought of Mrs. Treadwell because she went unnoticed by so many and thus saw/heard things. #scenesfromabook @JoeStalksBeck
pickOne of my favorite books that I read all year, and also one of the hardest to read. Reading it's like listening to your Trump voting relatives, except instead the characters are Germans in the 1930s. I would take this novel as a depiction of humanity's capacity to rationalize evil over any dystopian novel I've ever read. #litsyatoz
Started to reread this dark, wonderful novel yesterday. It simmers with barely suppressed violence!
Ready for my birthday cruise with these boat-based reads. ❤️🚢📖
pickStarting as disjointed stories of individuals, and ending almost the same way, the novel slow.y builds as the passengers first develop relationships with each other, then become disillusioned, then leave the ship with vaguely positive feelings, and vague misgivings about their own and others‘ behavior. An excellent character study, and a mirror to our baser prejudices.
Could she fall so low? No, there were limits, and she believed she still knew where some of them were.
