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The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James
A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek by Ari Kelman
The Stench of Honolulu by Jack Handey
Essential Bierce by Ambrose Bierce
Is That All There Is? by Joost Swarte
Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History by Richard J. Evans
Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals by Niall Ferguson (ed.)


The War Nerd by Gary Brecher
The First Men In the Moon by H.G. Wells
Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson



Gekiga Hitteru



Manga biography of Hitler, done from Japanese perspective one gets a relatively unbiased view of Hitler. Poor guy, his personal life was a failure and as result he poured his frustration into nationalism and the party, eventually leading to a complete global catastrophe.



Pop science at its best. Very entertaining.



Kingdom



Chapter 175 now. This is turning out to be the best manga I have read in like a year, I even cried when they killed a main character (I cried in only less than a dozen different manga so far). I think I will put it into my top 10, this is such powerful and great stuff.



Survivor 5s #2 Bitch


I finally finished reading and studying it the other week! It's now one of my favourite books although I initially found it difficult to get into, but having read it once and looked over the beginning again, it's so much clearer and compelling.

SPOILERS!!

One thing I will say is that I despise Heathcliff, a lot of people in my class defended him regardless of what he did, he could become a serial killer and a lot of them would condone it or justify it. 18 years, for a start, is far too long to obsess over somebody and then he has necrophiliac urges which was pretty repulsive
But his treatment of Nelly was disgusting, his behaviour towards his son was appalling (although Linton was also one of the most disgusting characters I've ever come across as well) and then beating up Cathy 2 on several occasions was the final straw (I utterly adored her). He might have been a victim of circumstance, but he's a grown adult at this point and he's just repulsive in every way.

I also didn't like the original Cathy either... at all, so Heathcliff and Cathy's romance was of little interest to me whatsoever, although the storyline is extremely short which I was quite shocked by considering how iconic the two of them now are. But I adored Hareton and Cathy, and so I loved their developing relationship and the ending was nothing short of terrific to me.

But all of the characters were developed to such a point that's it sad to look at them as just characters if that makes sense, they're just so lifelike and reflective of reality. Isabella was another favourite of mine even though she had many flaws, I did like how she stood up against Heathcliff and left him, although he tried to kill her so she had no other option I suppose but as a young woman, with no relatives since her brother disowned her in addition to possessing very few legal rights in her society, I loved her decision to flee despite the odds being so heavily weighed against her.

And the violence, too! There were quite a few physical fights between more or less everyone at some stage, but it worked well, and it was a nice surprise to find in what I thought was going to be a stale book in those regards.

But yeah, I'm thrilled my sixth form chose to study this book, it'll stay with me forever!



Heathcliff was a real jerk at times but I also get annoyed when people defend Cathy. They were both awful. While reading the book, I did like Heathcliff much better. I just felt bad for him because of what Catherine did. But after reading the whole thing and reflecting on it, I realized they were both annoying and childish.





Pretty good economics books for layman. Its very clear in its argument that the modern banking system is exposed to excessive risk (leading to the 2008 crisis) and needs to be put under strict regulations of equity ratio (the authors argue that banks should raise more funds from stock emissions rather than deposits).





Numero Zero by Umberto Eco

"There. And if anyone is tempted to describe a dramatic situation by saying we're in the 'eye of the storm,' I imaging Dottor Colonna will be just as quick to remind you that according to all scientific manuals, the 'eye of the storm' is the place where calm reigns while the storm rages all around."
"No, Dottor Simei," I interrupted. "In such a case I'd say you should use 'eye of the storm' because it doesn't matter what science says, readers don't know, and 'eye of the storm' gives exactly the idea of finding yourself in the middle of it. This is what the press and television have taught them."





The Book of Sand & Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges (trans. by Andrew Hurley)
If someone were to tell me that there are unicorns on the moon, I could accept or reject the report, or suspend judgement, but it is something I could imagine. If, on the other hand, I were told that six or seven unicorns on the moon could be three, I would declare a priori that such a thing was impossible. The man who has learnt that three plus one are four doesn't have to go through a proof of that assertion with coins, or dice, or chess pieces, or pencils. He knows it, and that's that. He cannot conceive a different sum. There are mathematicians who say that three plus one is a tautology for four, a different way of saying "four" ... But I, Alexander Craigie, of all men on earth, was fated to discover the only objects that contradict that essential law of the human mind.
At first I was in a sort of agony, fearing that I'd gone mad; since then, I have come to believe that it would have been better had I been merely insane, for my personal hallucinations would be less disturbing than the discovery that the universe can tolerate disorder. If three plus one can be two, or fourteen, then reason is madness.



The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater
Orson Welles, Vol. 3: One-Man Band by Simon Callow
Voices From the Street by Philip K. Dick
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey

And a bunch of articles (mostly politics).





Very good stuff. Japanese history has a lot of parallels to Brazilian history.



The 4th title by Inio Asano that I read. Perhaps the best so far.



Another Koike style samurai melodrama.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Saga



I finally decided to give this series a go after so many people praised it. I didn't really know what I was in for other than it was about two people from warring species who fall in love and have a child, which is forbidden. They flee and are chased down from people on both sides of the war. That's a quick and dirty summary of something I simply cannot put into words because this series is off the wall bonkers.

The artwork is creatively bizarre, to the point where I literally have NO idea what will be on the next page. The world this story is set in has so many possibilities that is is literally impossible to know where things will go. Androids with TV's for heads? Okay.... Topless, armless, spider woman assassin? Alright.... As the story progresses, things get weirder and weirder and I couldn't be happier.

I immediately picked up volumes 2-5 after reading this one. Something I rarely do.

The writing is witty, depressing and insightful. I didn't expect to have so many emotions run through me within a book, but damn does Vaughn nail it.

Easily one of my favourites series I've read so far.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
The Demon-Haunted World



by Carl Sagan with Ann Druyan

the life-changing magic of Not Giving A F*ck



by sarah knight



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Firefight



The second book in The Reckoners series. The first book, Steelheart was pretty good and went at break neck speed. The second book changes the setting, we leave the steel covered Newcago and are now in Babylon Restored. A flooded city that glows at night. Great descriptions of the city really put me there and it was a nice change to the metallic coldness of the previous city.

The new Epic, Regalia controls water and Sanderson puts that to creative use. Not as menacing at Steelheart, but more cunning, which took the story to new directions.

The book opens with a bang, just like the first one, then it follows the opening with another exciting chase sequence, just like the first. That might be one of the letdowns here. The second book basically follows the first one, structure wise, page per page, which made it a bit easier to expect certain events. Sanderson reuses some elements from the first book again here, which takes away from some of the emotion.

Decent sequel that sets up the third book nicely.



My friend's dad's friend is a big jazz guy. We always talk about it and I've learned a lot from him. He lent me a book called Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn. All about the making of the most acclaimed jazz album of all-time. Fascinating stuff so far, great music journalism that inspires me to seek out more in the future.



You ready? You look ready.
__________________
"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza