very weird yet very creative

Ubik by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one very weird yet very creative story. I read it because it was on the Time Magazine 100 list and because i've read a couple of his other books, which are really good. This is a pretty cool story, with lots of plot twists and turns.

http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/

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Excellent - worth a listen!

Excellent - worth a listen! @ThisAmerLife episode 603: "Once More, With Feeling" https://t.co/WbN6fwQLiz

— Kevin Routh (@KcRouth) November 23, 2017

helpful perspective

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book because it was on my bookshelf and it appears on several "must-read" lists i have. This is a cool story that offers insight into pre-modern African culture, and also some perspective on how western influences of the 20th century affected their society. It is sad to read yet another story of the western white man coming in with supposedly superior religion and culture and imposing it on the native peoples in the name of progress and "salvation". The characters are especially interesting in that we see how very much alike they are to us "moderns", even though on the surface they seem so different. I'm glad i read this, but i feel that much of its acclaim probably has as much to do with when it was written as with its content. I see that it may have influenced Barbara Kingsolver in her The Poisonwood Bible, which is a much better book, IMO.

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coincidence

Our internet was out this morning (thanks Spectrum) while i was picking my next book to read. When i got back online, i loaded google and found that today is the 87th birthday of the author of the book i picked. That is pretty cool. Have been wanting to read this one for a while, looking forward to it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37781.Things_Fall_Apart

thinking at every corner

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

i read this one on the heels of Cat's Cradle because it is so highly recommended, and because i had it on the shelf. This is one extremely good book that is written in a very unusual way. It took me a while to get into his mode of telling the story, but once i was in, i was all in. I think that for this reason, and because the deep topics dealt with, this book merits re-reading sometime soon, perhaps in the next year. This is a sobering yet zany story, that will have the reader thinking at every corner. I am now wondering if all of Mr. Vonnegut's novels are as unusual as these two i've recently read! great story.

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an outrageous tale

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cat's Cradle is a zany yet thoughtful tale about the end of the world and all that leads up to such an event. This outrageous tale reads like one of the best social / political satire films you've ever seen, for example Dr. Strangelove. I would LOVE to see a good film adaptation of this one made! Great story!

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a well thought out and wonderfully told story

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has been a long time since i picked up a book and within 10-15 pages was totally hooked and did not want to put it down until it was done. This is one such book. I used to think that if i did not care about any of the characters within the first 100 pages, then i didn't care how the story ends and stopped reading. This story is the opposite. By page 6 i deeply cared about the protagonist and was pulling for him, and felt his sense of loss on page 12.

American Gods is a story about America (as in the U.S. of) and her gods (and other related religious personalities and objects). Because there are no truly native Americans (all humans migrated to North America at some point in their story) it is also a story about the world, the history and traditions of people, and what is brought with a people when they move to a new place. Through creative and well reasoned characters and situations, we read not only a history of ourselves, but also a critique of our present society, and a challenge for our future. The story is deeply engaging on many levels, and leaves the reader with much to think about related to what we believe, and why, and with both challenge and hope as it leaves off (it doesn't really end because the story is our story and our story is ongoing). I really loved this book, a well thought out and wonderfully told story.

This is my first full length novel by Mr. Gaiman. I had read an excellent short story of his entitled Goliath in The Matrix comics series ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92058.The_Matrix_Comics_Vol_1 ) and wanted more.

I also hope to catch the recent TV series adaptation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods_(TV_series)

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