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Finally got to read this short story yesterday. As good as always, thanks for the recommendation!

Everything by Le Guin is pure gold! I will add this one to my reading list, but I lived “The Dispossessed “ as political science-fiction, while “the left hand of the darkness” explores gender and prejudices, and “earthsea” is a series of coming of age novels. Every is so good

Thanks… well, if there is no indoctrination people might even develop different opinions! /s

Is that a hyperbole or is this factually correct? :(

I started Blood Meridian by McCarthy. It was a Christmas gift from an American friend. I had never heard about it before then, and I went into it more or less blind. It’s a much bleaker read than I was expecting, but the language is keeping me hooked: it has been a while since last time I had to check the meaning of an English word, and this me taught me plenty.

On the side, I’m reading a German young adult romance novel to learn better German. It’s a light read, to nicely compensate and lift my spirits a bit.

From an academic level, he stands aside, presenting himself as and taking pride in being a “poet maudit”, a cursed poet. So his themes are very peculiar. But he also has a really good classical education, thus he builds very balanced verses, while often playing with the musicality of words.

For me, very personally, it sounds so incredibly good while being almost over the top dark and tortured. I love the contrast that creates.

The poem I particularly like is the one he chose as introduction of his works. It’s alluring, while alluding to the future corruption. I imagine it to be the call of a new drug.

A problem with poetry is that it cannot be translated, so I’ll refer the originals:

• Correspondences by Baudelaire (what do you get if you mix many drugs in the French noble 1800s)
• The Road not taken by Frost (every choice has a consequence)
• Invictus by Henley (the power of the will and the soul)
• Non chiederci la parola by Montale (the impossibility of knowing)

As an Italian, I’m most definitely biased, but the Divine Comedy, and mostly the Inferno, are worth a read if you are willing to read the notes (all the historical references are near-impossible to understand otherwise). Some sections are romantic, some politic/religious/esoteric, some epic, a couple really fun. There is a bit for everyone. The Paradise becomes more serious, concentrating most on religion and politics, and I found it less exciting.

Lol! My mum still asks both me and my husband (“techy” jobs according to her) to solve all her problems with computers/printers/ the internet at large/ any app that doesn’t work… the list is endless. I take it as a statement of how proud she is of me that she would still ask us first, even if we haven’t succeeded in fixing a single issue since the time the problem was an old cartridge in the printer some 5-6 years ago.

I think the Tiffany Aching quadrilogy is also great, a bit apart in the discoworld, sweeter and less irreverent.

I walked into a random bookstore and got advised to read “Rossignol” by Audrey Pleynet. As far as I know it has only been published in French, but I hope this is going to change.

It’s a short read, but absolutely amazing. A woman is on the run, and mixes memories of her past in a futuristic space station to flashes of her escape. Only slowly do all the pieces fall together, creating a tale with many emotions, strange characters and glimpses of a lively mixed station where all are welcome, but where tensions between groups are rising.

I loved it for the deep characterization of the main character, while all others are just fast drafts. I loved it for the sci-fi and the politics and the action.

I started it yesterday and already finished it.

Thanks for the extra info. In the meantime I finished the book, so I have a better outlook. At the beginning, the push is towards a revolution against the authoritarian regime, with some sprinkles of “workers unite”, so I expected to go more towards socialism. Then it becomes more clear that he is against all a d any government, even while accepting that it can’t work. Quite interesting overall!