nicanical
Carry On, Jeeves is a collection of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves shorts. It includes the four from My Man, Jeeves, so it can stand-in as a starting point to the series if following publication order. I started with The Code of the Woosters, so my expectations were set by that that book. The shorts lack the room for situations to snowball as they did in Code, but they are still funny and charming.
My favorite stories are the last three:
- Fixing it for Freddie has a sweetness to it in addition to Wodehouse's humor;
- Clustering Round Young Bingo reminds me of Code: Bertie is called upon for his burglary skills and even Aunt Dahlia makes an appearance. There's also backstory on how Anatole comes to cook for her in Code;
- Bertie Changes His Mind is the only Jeeves story narrated from his perspective. There's mischievous fun in seeing Jeeves move behind the scenes.
Carry On, Jeeves is a collection of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves shorts. It includes the four from My Man, Jeeves, so it can stand-in as a starting point to the series if following publication order. I started with The Code of the Woosters, so my expectations were set by that that book. The shorts lack the room for situations to snowball as they did in Code, but they are still funny and charming.
My favorite stories are the last three:
- Fixing it for Freddie has a sweetness to it in addition to Wodehouse's humor;
- Clustering Round Young Bingo reminds me of Code: Bertie is called upon for his burglary skills and even Aunt Dahlia makes an appearance. There's also backstory on how Anatole comes to cook for her in Code;
- Bertie Changes His Mind is the only Jeeves story narrated from his perspective. There's mischievous fun in seeing Jeeves move behind the scenes.
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a collection of simple yet thought-provoking stories all set in one retrofuturistic timeline where Earth colonizes Mars. The stories are light on the sci-fi; obstacles like travel to Mars and habitation and availability of resources once there are waved away by setting Mars up like Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom, with a breathable atmosphere and potable water.
Instead of wrangling technical hurdles The Martian Chronicles' stories resembles Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle in its exploration of themes like oppression, the role of technology, and man's tendency to destroy itself.
Bradbury seems to take a dim view:
Life on Earth never settled down to doing anything very good. Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly, and the people got lost in a mechanical wilderness, like children making over pretty things, gadgets, helicopters, rockets; emphasizing the wrong items, emphasizing machines instead of how to run the machines. Wars got bigger and bigger and finally killed Earth.
On Bradbury's writing style: it is clear and clean, and the occasional sense of whimsy with how serious events are written about deadpan and matter of factly. The near extinction of indigenous Martians, astronauts killing each other, Earth's destruction—so it goes.
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a collection of simple yet thought-provoking stories all set in one retrofuturistic timeline where Earth colonizes Mars. The stories are light on the sci-fi; obstacles like travel to Mars and habitation and availability of resources once there are waved away by setting Mars up like Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom, with a breathable atmosphere and potable water.
Instead of wrangling technical hurdles The Martian Chronicles' stories resembles Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle in its exploration of themes like oppression, the role of technology, and man's tendency to destroy itself.
Bradbury seems to take a dim view:
Life on Earth never settled down to doing anything very good. Science ran too far ahead of us too quickly, and the people got lost in a mechanical wilderness, like children making over pretty things, gadgets, helicopters, rockets; emphasizing the wrong items, emphasizing machines instead of how to run the machines. Wars got bigger and bigger and finally killed Earth.
On Bradbury's writing style: it is clear and clean, and the occasional sense of whimsy with how serious events are written about deadpan and matter of factly. The near extinction of indigenous Martians, astronauts killing each other, Earth's destruction—so it goes.
Added to listOwnedwith 123 books.
Wyrd Sisters is the second book in Discworld's Witches sub-series. Granny Weatherwax responds to a crisis following the accession of a new king. She is joined by Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, the three witches together forming the Lancre coven.
Some parts are convoluted because plot points are explained through the witches' banter, which is often ambiguous although very entertaining. This is a story that will benefit from a reread, allowing the plot to be offloaded to memory.
This is first Discworld story where I laughed out loud. Probably because there's more witty dialogue here, whereas previous entries relied mainly on satire and absurdity.
Wyrd Sisters is the second book in Discworld's Witches sub-series. Granny Weatherwax responds to a crisis following the accession of a new king. She is joined by Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick, the three witches together forming the Lancre coven.
Some parts are convoluted because plot points are explained through the witches' banter, which is often ambiguous although very entertaining. This is a story that will benefit from a reread, allowing the plot to be offloaded to memory.
This is first Discworld story where I laughed out loud. Probably because there's more witty dialogue here, whereas previous entries relied mainly on satire and absurdity.
A sourceror is born (an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son) disrupting the balance of magical power on Discworld. Rincewind answers the call, supported by barbarian-hairdresser-thief Conina, aspiring barbarian Nijel, Klatchian Seriph Creosote, and the Luggage of course.
The story rambles a bit three-quarters in. Also around this point, circumstance splits the gang three ways. The loss of the fun group dynamic is huge, and why I think the story ends not with a bang but with a whimper.
A sourceror is born (an eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son) disrupting the balance of magical power on Discworld. Rincewind answers the call, supported by barbarian-hairdresser-thief Conina, aspiring barbarian Nijel, Klatchian Seriph Creosote, and the Luggage of course.
The story rambles a bit three-quarters in. Also around this point, circumstance splits the gang three ways. The loss of the fun group dynamic is huge, and why I think the story ends not with a bang but with a whimper.