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Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell Published: 1945 Length: 112 pages (but read on e-reader) This wasn’t part of my high school curriculum, so I finally decided to give it a try. I knew going in that it’s an allegory of the Russian Revolution, but I think even if you know embarrassingly little of that, like me unfortunately, the message of this and the conclusions drawn would be the same, which I suppose proves how well it was written. This will include spoilers. This is the story of a revolt gone wrong, of a successful revolution that ends with a government more oppressive than the one that was overthrown. This happens…
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You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)
You’re Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day Published: 2015 Narrated by: Felicia Day, Joss Whedon (foreword) Length: 06:17 (260 pages) I first came across Felicia Day in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which I loved, and I later picked up a copy of The Guild‘s first season on DVD at a signing, which was nearly a decade ago now. Not having seen the show at that point, I accidentally ignored Sandeep Parikh at the singing table. which is a shame because he was probably my favourite of the cast when I finally got around to watching it. We even all took an awkward photo together, which I made slightly…
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Fool’s Assassin
Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb Published: 2014 Series: The Fitz and The Fool Trilogy #1 Length: 689 pages Robin Hobb is one of my favourite authors, and it’s a shame it’s been so long since I’ve read one of her novels. I lost the will to go on after finishing the first two books in her Soldier Son trilogy. I still loved her writing in those, but I just really grew to hate the plot. The whole story was ridiculous and painful to get through. After deciding to abandon that series (a decision that took years), I unfortunately stopped reading her completely, despite having the Liveship Traders and Rain Wild…
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Bream Gives Me Hiccups
Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg Published: 2015 Narrated by: Jesse Eisenberg, Hallie Eisenberg, Annapurna Sriram, Erin Darke, Colin Nissan Length: 04:28 (273 pages) I picked this up because I thought it would be a good audiobook to have while in Hawaii. I knew I wasn’t going to get a lot of time to read, so a smaller book of short stories or essays seemed like the perfect choice. Unfortunately I started it on a dog walk a couple of days before leaving and managed to finished it before we even stepped on a plane. I like Jesse Eisenberg in his film roles, and he seems like a funny…
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February in Review
Books Acquired: None. Books Read: Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb You’re Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day Animal Farm by George Orwell Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome One post last month, not including the previous wrap-up. Oh, how time flies. I have an excuse for the first two weeks, we were in Hawaii for one of them and had guests at the house for the other, but since then it’s just been laziness. It’s funny how difficult it can be to sit down in front of the keyboard after taking a long break, even knowing it’s enjoyable once you get going. It was a…
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She
She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard Published: 1887 Series: She #1 Narrated by: Peter Joyce Length: 12:15 (317 pages) I was under the false impression that this was the second Allan Quatermain novel, but it’s actually an entirely new set of characters. It’s a novel that does scratch that same itch, however, as it’s still a story of the Lost World genre in which a group of Englishmen travel to Africa (this time landing somewhere on the eastern side of the continent) to find a hidden civilization. That is simplifying it a little unfairly, but the two books do have a similar feel. A professor at Cambridge,…
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The Power of Habit
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg Published: 2012 Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain Length: 10:57 (286 pages) I was hesitant to pick this up, as I usually stay away from self-help books unless they really come highly recommended, but I’m glad I did. I bought this right at the beginning of January while going through a minor New Year New Me moment. As it turns out, this isn’t so much a self-help book as it is an exploration into how habits affect our day-to-day lives. It’s actually very reminiscent of a Mary Roach book, particularly in how the case studies…
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January in Review
Books Acquired: The Sculptor by Scott McCloud Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground by Darwyn Cooke Espedair Street by Iain Banks Smut: Stories by Alan Bennett Funny Girl by Nick Hornby Letters of Note by Shaun Usher Poems That Make Grown Men Cry by Anthony Holden, Ben Holden Books Read: Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg She by H. Rider Haggard Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg I was a naughty boy this month. I had an order from Amazon, so I thought I’d throw in a couple graphic novels, which on its own is fine. Unfortunately, yesterday I also accidentally found myself in a…
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Secondhand Souls
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore Published: 2015 Series: Grim Reaper #2 Length: 335 pages This is the sequel to Moore’s A Dirty job, which is a fantastic book about a beta male finding himself in the role of a Death Merchant, tasked with retrieving and protecting the souls of the dead. I read it nearly a decade ago, so it took me a little while to figure out what as going on in this sequel. I really should have glanced at a synopsis before starting, because I apparently blocked out the last quarter of that book. This lead to some happy, if unintentional, surprises, but Moore does take some time…
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The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Published: 1915 Translated by: Susan Bernofsky (from German) Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini Length: 02:08 (128 pages) I actually read this over the Christmas holiday, which I admit is not the best time to read a novel about a man turned insect ruining his family’s life, but I managed to enjoyed this despite the incompatible festivities. This was my first time reading Kafka, and I really didn’t know what to expect. I was mainly excited about now being able to use the term ‘Kafkaesque’ with some legitimacy, but I was happy to find I enjoyed his writing as well. As with any translation, it’s hard to…