@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.
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.
@bookstodon just finished Robert Kagan's The Jungle Grows Back, as an audiobook.
Well written, it presents the conventional view of post-WWII history, with America as The Essential Nation. All our interventions were well intentioned, though many of them were flawed. It doesn't go into, say, the CIA manipulation of the Italian election. It argues strongly for the need for continuing vigilance and the American role as ballast and keel for the liberal world order.
@bookstodon it would make an interesting curriculum to start with this and explore backwards and sideways to see how well it holds up. (Spoiler alert: imperfectly, at best, even if you buy the fundamental premise.)
@rdviii@bookstodon it will briefly interesting to live in a world where every nuclear-armed state is a right-wing dictatorship / kleptocracy. Will also answer the Fermi Paradox locally.
My other hobby (other than computer science and language learning) is the history of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity.
Ehrman’s works are great if you’re interested in the field. Easily the most accessible, IMHO, for a layperson. Obviously don’t limit yourself to one author in any field, but he’s an excellent place to start.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon
💬Victory Parade by Leela Corman is a masterwork
💬Gender Studies: True Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw by Ajuan Mance
💬All My Bicycles by Powerpaola
💬Malarky by November Garcia
💬Heavyweight by Solomon Brager
💬Here I am, I am me—a guide to mental health by Cara Bean
(Not a novel, a short story by myself: 💬Feather by Tyler Cohen)
What book bloggers do people follow to find their erotica and romance? Not all of those I followed on Twitter migrated to here, but I am sure there are ones I don't know about in the Fediverse.
Particularly interested in sf/f/h/weird erotica and romance book bloggers, and lgbtq+ themed blogs, but also generalists.
#FinishedReading this #AlanMoore collection. As a prose writer he has much flair but little restraint, which makes for stimulating but frustrating reading. The book is unfortunately dominated by a novel-length Tom Sharpe style ribald satire of the comics industry which was too didactic and mean-spirited to work for me. I liked his wild story of intelligent life emerging in the 1st femtosecond after the big bang, and the creepy story told in dialogue that ends the book. @bookstodon#Bookstodon
@bookstodon
A very, very good book, nuanced and thoughtful. To my eye, its explanation of how we got where we are is spot on, but then, he is a member of the elite talking to another member of the elite (by education, if not income; I have a PhD).
But in the end his policy pronunciations seem...timid, given the scope of the problems we face.
I’d like to show you the Brazilian edition of Star Wars: Thrawn (Timothy Zahn), by Aleph Publishing. All Star Wars books released by Aleph follow the same format and layout, being items that look beautiful in the collection (I am not sponsored by the publisher at all, it is my opinion as a consumer).
I’m reading the first 3 volumes of this by way of preparation for China Miéville’s(!) forthcoming contribution to the IP. Pretty good writing for a Hollywood actor, I thought, and brilliant art, but basically pretty pedestrian.
As a science-fiction reader I had a little trouble with in ascension
At first I was happy to read a big dumb object book that focuses on the psychology of the characters more than on the science.
But as I went on reading I had more and more trouble with the lack of scientific curiosity and engineering prowess in a book about scientists and astronauts.
In Ascension is the opposite of a competence porn novel. The protagonists are cogs in a machine they don't control. While this is more true to life, it is less true to the lives of scientists, engineers and astronauts.
The scientific information peppered throughout the book is given as exposition, and while it's worth paying attention to and is the best way to try and figour out what's going on, it has little to do with the characters thoughts and behavior. The only people who try to find anything out, who actually do research, are relatives trying to figure out what happened.
For example, after an inexplicable incident the crew finds that everything is covered in a layer of dust. What do they do? Do they attempt to find out what it's made of? No. They make an effort to clean things up and that's it.
Where is the curiosity and sence of wonder of people that worked so hard to go beyond where man has gone before?
I understand that living with our impotence when facing large systems that don't care about us as individuals is what this novel is about. But it is hard for me to relinquish the illusion of control the scientific method gives us.