“He could not force himself to understand how banks functionaled and so forth, because all the operations of capitalism were as meaningless to him as the rites of a primitive religion, as barbaric, as elaboratr, and as unnecessary. In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistskrn and terrible beauty; in the rites of moneychangers, where greed, laziness and envy were assumed to move all men‘s acts, even the terrible became banal.”
“The rest of us keep pretending we‘re happy or else just go numb. We suffer, but not enough. And so we suffer for nothing.”
pickRelationship Status: “It‘s complicated”— on the one hand I agree, don‘t drop bombs and stop destroying cultures. On the other hand, I disagree with the author‘s vague misogyny and eugenics. A heck of a time capsule, ironically enough, considering the subject matter.
I guess ultimately it was not dreadful and rather short. Perfect for a book club read.
Can't believe it is March already! I read 9 books in February, and the tagged book was my favorite read of the month. However, the scientific nonfiction "Outlive" comes in a close 2nd.
#2024Bracket
@CSeydel
Fantastische boek over een 17de eeuwse Utopische wereld, waar de hoofdpersonage de keizerin ervan wordt. Het verhaal is vol met referenties naar alchemie, astronomische theorieën en esoterisme, maar ook maatschappelijke thema's.
so-so16/150 I FINALLY finished January's #ClassicLSFBC selection. I'm not sure if the book was too high brow for my low brow tastes, but I found a great deal of the book mind numbingly boring. I didn't like Shevek as a character, he was cold, aloof and more interested in his physics theorems than in other people. I don't think I'd want to live on Anarres or Urras, they both were unpleasant places for different reasons. I'm probably missing ⬇️⬇️
An absentminded reader‘s tale:
I was looking to see how much the tagged book was on Kindle. I have the audiobook from Hoopla. Sometimes I alternate between audio and Kindle when I‘m trying to finish fast. Amazon informs me that I *already bought* this book on Kindle, on June 19, 2017. 2017!! I forgot I had it. Here is a screenshot of the order. It was $4.98 total for both, so I got a heck of a deal that day. I‘m so glad Amazon reminded me. 🤦🏻♀️
so-soNot too sure what I shall think about this book. I appreciate it as one of the first sci-fi stories and wirtten by a highly educated woman. But I don't really know what to think about all those philosophical parts. Most of them are rather out-dated or way over my head. I did not like the last part (apart from the female friendship), that was only about war and builing strong weapons. But Ant-Man und Spider-Man made me smile 😉
