@beecycling@weirdwriter@bookstodon The environmental cost is too much even if the work is public domain. And the 'AI' will always have been trained on stolen content.
If you've not heard of Ismail Kadare, then have a read of Alberto Manguel's quick assessment, and if you're tempted perhaps pick up a copy of The File on H, or The Successor.
Not really my fav genre, but I appreciate how the fear of coming out is captured.
“The night played out like my biggest fear.. It wasn't that I assumed my parents would disown me, or my grandfather would stop loving me, or my friendships would crumble. I feared the unknown stranger, their angry judgment, the silence of a gaggle of witnesses.”
I was in a bit of a reading slump where nothing appealed to me, but this book got me out again. It has everything I want from a thriller: complicated plot with unexpected twists, terrific characters and very good writing.
The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen*
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope*
Funny Story by Emily Henry
This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter*
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks*
Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton*
Books read in January:
Strong Poison -- Dorothy L. Sayers
Have His Carcase -- Dorothy L. Sayers
Et liv i redningsvest: Dagboksopptegnelser om norsk rasisme -- Sumaya Jirde Ali
Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable -- Judith Butler
Strengt fortrolig: Norges hemmelige forsøk på å stanse krigen i Libya -- Henrik Thune
Gaudy Night -- Dorothy L. Sayers
An Unkindness of Ghosts -- Rivers Solomon
Busman's Honeymoon -- Dorothy L. Sayers
Driftglass -- Samuel R. Delany
Roboten er løs! -- Philip Newth
I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov
Palestine -- Joe Sacco
All Systems Red -- Martha Wells @bookstodon
The Russo-Ukrainian War -- Serhii Plokhy
System Collapse -- Martha Wells
The Immortal King Rao -- Vauhini Vara
Peace Has Come -- Parismita Singh
The Hands of the Emperor -- Victoria Goddard
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem -- Maryse Condé
If/Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future -- Jill Lepore
Tusen dager med Taliban -- Ayesha Wolasmal
At the Feet of the Sun -- Victoria Goddard
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Maya Angelou
They Called Us Enemy -- George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott & Harmony Becker
The Time Regulation Institute -- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar
I mostly keep track of books on #StoryGraph so I was a little surprised after finishing All The Light We Cannot See by #AnthonyDoerr that of all the people who answered ‘Flaws of characters a main focus’ only 38% said Yes 🤔 I mean Werner is a complex sympathetic character but the ways he is complicit in Nazism is a major driver of the plot. If that ain’t a character flaw I don’t know what is! Nevertheless that complexity is part of why it’s a great book that avoids cliche @bookstodon
@bookstodon@diazona I 100% agree with you on both. That question could be interpreted many ways. Werner’s unease over his actions as a member of the German army is absolutely the driving force of his section of the novel though!
As to other ways character flaws can drive a novel: I just read The Prestige which has an unreliable narrator and 91% said flaws are a main driver of plot. Plus it is a great book.