Reviews and Comments

OK, this is distinctly readable... But really terrible plot/character/setting wise. OK, not fair to say that about the setting, the location isn't all that bad, it was just the "sub locations" and related to why those characte4rs (most of the main ones) were there. I honestly enjoyed reading it, but I can't say I'm that interested in reading any more of it. I do have another similar sized book in the series, it's not the next one. It would be the one after the next one if I were to pick the similar version of the next one. I don't really feel that skipping ahead is a terrible idea.

There is a rather diverse selection of topics, some of them I disagreed with, but then this was published 1985, and I have to say that part of the disagreement, is changes that have occurred since that time. Other sections I had a hard time reading. I have tried to read this before and it's a big book... And I think part of what makes it hard, is that the tone/topic can change and become "boring" for a longer period than is really comfortable to really read through. It was a nice deck reading book where I'd read a bit, take a break and get back to a bit later in the nice weather.

It's actually been a while...

This is a book that I probably wouldn't have picked up if it wasn't at the library's "free books" shelf. Not really because it wasn't good, it was pretty good, but other than being poetry I wouldn't have even picked it up there, as I know nothing really about this. So... Was it good? Yes, mostly. It's just that it wasn't as much to my liking (and it could have been the time I was reading as it wasn't the good reading time of year exactly.

Dates are certainly not right, but I didn't note what the reading times were.

I have read this multiple times and probably will continue to read it. I have found it interesting, there's times in the story that I go... "no that's not right..." But that is also part of the story.

This was tricky to read. I can't entirely say why, but I've found that Ursula K. le Guin is kind of hard to read. The stories are good, but I find the writing tricky. The main story was kind of hard, but the stuff after it was a bit better.

Or maybe not, I shouldn't judge your experience, but made me cry multiple times. Sometimes because bad things happen, sometimes because good things happened. Sometimes because it was just beautiful. The stories tend to mostly pretty good, and I'm sure some people will find different ones good. There were a couple that fell flat for me, but it could well be just when I was reading it.

I've read some of this, quite some time ago. Want to read it again. Maybe finish it this time.

I've had this for a bit, and probably not properly read it.

This took ages to read, it was a sauna book, probably for over a year.

Read the whole thing, and will admit that I liked slogging through the whole thing in certain ways. It's 853 pages, and I would say the 'good parts' could fit easily into about 50 pages. There are some interesting bits I'll admit. The chasing of the mushroom around the plate, that was interesting. Various bits of "philosophy" presented are actually interesting, but presented so superficially that they are more a prod to look up more about that, and the horse race was interesting.

Other than that, there's a lot of dull, nothing happens for 20 pages, and then the thing that happens, is essentially a scene change... Most of the novel is dull, and pedestrian. Maybe that's why it's so "good"? Because it's nothing fancy, but this is very much the bourgeoisie we're talking about. Even if they want to believe they are "poor".

This one was a bit of a weird one... Bits were really tough, bits were like, "thank god someone's saying this." Because it is an anthology of stories, it will often switch fairly quickly, and not really clearly in parts. There are 24 (I think) stories in 270 pages, and there is front and back matter. So about 10 pages per story. A bit over, and some are really short.

Many of these also feel like they could be part of an entire story of 100+ pages (as a graphic novel at least). Which I think is partially due to some of these artists having already done such themselves. Or maybe not.

Given the title, you should probably expect that this is a sad book. It's beautifully drawn and told. I have looked for the film, but haven't watched it yet. I really wish I could say more about it, without being overly spoilery. It's just a good book, but certainly a sad one.