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@quaffable· 19 logs

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Chinua Achebe - Arrow of God

Literature · 1964

Date logged8/10/2026, 9:19:11 PMSubmitted8/10/2026, 9:19:11 PM

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Bitter men beget bitter gods beget bitter disasters. Very loose for me plot-wise, with many digressions but they weren't unwelcome. Such a thoroughly textured, lived world and Achebe isn't going to sit and explain too much just because you don't get it. Such colorful idioms it blew me away.

Haley Cohen Gilliland - Flower Traveled in My Blood

Literature · 2025

Date logged7/24/2026, 3:18:34 PMSubmitted7/24/2026, 3:18:34 PM

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¿Vos sabés quién sos? Heartbreaking, heartwarming, devastating and delivering. The depths of human depravity can only be overmatched by strength of spirit and relentless resolve that are also so core to being a person. This book maintains a strong pace and yet is detailed enough to show exactly how the gears of fascism grind away at the minds of a population to the point where a bunch of un-uniformed thugs can just bundle a person into a car and make them disappear- and a street full of witnesses will never speak of it. I am also impressed at the creativity it takes to effectively topple a regime by simply showing up every Thursday and marching arm-in-arm. The sheer force of will it takes to effectively browbeat the international scientific community into connecting you with somebody willing (and able) to revolutionize genetics is awe-inspiring. I could probably rant for longer, but it wouldn’t do the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo justice. They are still finding the Desaparecidos, and yet more of their children may not know who they are.

Walter M. Miller Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz

Literature · 1959

Date logged7/20/2026, 4:35:14 PMSubmitted7/20/2026, 4:35:14 PM

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Excellent. Sometimes I even thought I should learn some of this Latin stuff. Mr. Miller wrote some really killer sentences that I sometimes had to just sit and think about for a couple of minutes, which is my favorite type of author and it really is a shame that this is one his only works that ventured beyond short story and that he struggled following up. Of the three stories, I think the first is the weakest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but Fiat Lux more than makes up for it. Biting commentary both against and for strict Catholicism. I think the discussion at the end about mercy killing/suicide/murder is especially poignant coming from an author who was Catholic and also clearly struggling. "Men must fumble awhile with error to separate it from truth, I think- as long as they don't seize the error hungrily because it has a pleasanter taste."

Maryellen MacDonald, PhD - More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World

Literature · 2025

Date logged5/26/2026, 5:47:00 PMSubmitted5/26/2026, 5:47:00 PM

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Quick read, interesting concepts only briefly touched on in ways that do not overstay their welcome. I think there are some decent points.

Peter Berresford Ellis - The Druids

Literature · 1994

Date logged5/26/2026, 5:40:04 PMSubmitted5/26/2026, 5:40:04 PM

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Really interesting, glad to see an account of druids/Celtic culture that acknowledges and attempts to rectify the fact that most of their history has been written by their colonizers. Reads as if you have a really intelligent friend showing you their red yarn conspiracy cork board and absolutely trashing the Romans/British/previous scholars. One of those histories where the whole thing should be read almost entirely with salt but done so in an admirable way.

Lindy Ryan - Cold Snap

Literature · 2024

Date logged4/29/2026, 5:21:05 PMSubmitted4/29/2026, 5:21:05 PM

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BAD, NO GOOD, BOO

Brendan Behan - The hostage

Literature · 1958

Date logged4/28/2026, 12:15:18 AMSubmitted4/28/2026, 12:15:18 AM

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This is good, but felt rushed in read form. I think the economy of setting is good for a stage play, and the characters not really knowing what is happening is good comedy.

Brendan Behan - The quare fellow

Literature · 1956

Date logged4/28/2026, 12:12:37 AMSubmitted4/28/2026, 12:12:37 AM

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Reads as a decent play, had to look up "The Auld Triangle" to listen and was pleasantly surprised to see that Behan is a capable singer. I think it could be an interesting staging updated for new conflicts.

Terry Pratchett - Small Gods

Literature · 1992

Date logged4/28/2026, 12:08:36 AMSubmitted4/28/2026, 12:08:36 AM

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Not the best Discworld I have read, largely because the main character is literally characterized as being boring. OM is cool though, and a god forced to be scrappy is a solid premise. Lots of this could probably distilled down though.

Thomas Pynchon - Shadow Ticket

Literature · 2025

Date logged4/28/2026, 12:04:43 AMSubmitted4/28/2026, 12:04:43 AM

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I think Mr. Pynchon has gotten too used to people rewriting his books into movies. I was pretty excited to read about Wisconsin cheese crime and instead got a (bad) absurdist ramble.

Susanna Clarke - The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

Literature · 2006

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:59:45 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:59:45 PM

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Great collection of stories. Full of that good good farie danger.

Susanna Clarke - Piranesi

Literature · 2020

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:57:42 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:57:42 PM

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Clarke kills me every time (all 3!). Piranesi has some cool things to say about ~being~ in a different relationship with the environment around you. The concept of reaching an arrangement between water, boat, and passenger is compelling. Well told.

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

Literature · 1962

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:52:32 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:52:32 PM

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Interesting read, I think the last chapter indeed should be cut because it is a crime against the work. Burgess is kinda a shitlord anyways. Otherwise its a bezoomny cowboy riot.

Paula Fox - Desperate Characters

Literature · 1970

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:48:36 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:48:36 PM

Hey, any novel that properly captures rabies anxiety is going to be solid. Absolutely love it as a way to characterize the people around Sophie and how Fox centers such fraught relationships.

Paula Fox - Desperate Characters

Literature · 1970

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:44:06 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:44:06 PM
Ursula K. Le Guin - Very far away from anywhere else

Literature · 1976

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:43:31 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:43:31 PM

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Needed this, wish I had found it earlier

Marie NDiaye - La sorcière

Literature · 1996

Date logged4/27/2026, 11:37:45 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 11:37:45 PM

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Highly delirious, occasionally magical, I feel like it was probably better in French but the translation has some good lines. Interesting things to say about parents and children.

Paula Fox - Desperate Characters

Literature · 1970

Date logged4/27/2026, 7:17:16 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 7:17:16 PM

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Ursula K. Le Guin - Very far away from anywhere else

Literature · 1976

Date logged4/27/2026, 6:30:50 PMSubmitted4/27/2026, 6:30:50 PM

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