Wulf's Book Reviews

Magician's Gambit by David Eddings My rating: 2 of 5 stars “ "We all have our little shortcomings," Silk admitted blandly. ” This is yet more of the same I’ve read so far in the Belgariad. We’re still travelling, we’re still seeing some fights the result of which is crystal clear from the outset and it’s becoming stale and bland. There’s some character development finally but mostly everyone still feels like an archetype and not like a real person. As if that wasn’t enough, there are lots of “Deus ex machina” moments during which something that should be hard gets resolved effortlessly: “ He ran his fingers over the icy iron, not knowing just what he was looking for. He found a spot that felt a little different. "Here it is." ” And just like that, that’s it. Garion explores some more of his capabilities but is still kept small by Belgarath and Pol. The ending is rushed, anti-climactic and actually feels like Eddings just wanted to end the book whic...

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin My rating: 2 of 5 stars The premise of this short story is simple: Omelas, a radiant city of happiness, has built its riches upon the suffering of a single child. Every citizen knows of the child and many visit it to witness its suffering. There are basically three options according to Le Guin: - Walk away and live your life, knowing your happiness depends on the misery of an innocent child. - Walk away from Omelas; leave, never to come back. - Rescue the child - but that doesn’t happen. According to Le Guin’s afterword those are the only options because those are the rules: » You can only play a game -- chess, soccer, parable -- if you follow the rules. « And that’s where I say she’s wrong: We abide by the “rules” because we want to. We allow the rules to restrict what we do. We choose to follow the rules - but we don’t have to! In the face of developing countries being ravaged by COVID-19 like we’d never tolerate it here, ...

Love is Make-Believe by Riham Adly My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was approached directly by the author, Riham Adly , who told me about her collection of “ Flash fiction ” - something I hadn’t heard about before. In Riham’s own words: “Flash is so flexible, it sometimes reads like a traditional short and sometimes like a poem with a narrative arc and sometimes it's very experimental; it lends structure from other forms like menus, lists. It's a new experience.” My interest immediately rose. A new form, a new voice! From Egypt! How could I resist that? So, first of all, Riham, thank you for the chance to read your collection! I really appreciate it. Riham quickly convinced me that she is in full command of her chosen language. Sadly, I couldn’t warm up to the Flash fiction form she chose and (some of) the content. Many of the short stories presented in this collections were confusing to me and, oftentimes, felt rather heavy-handed: » I beat in the flour. Too much force −like wh...

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn My rating: 4 of 5 stars Recently, I came across “Bridgerton” on Netflix and - much to the dismay of my family - I really enjoyed it. Now, what would be more sensible than to look for the “source material”? So I did and was somewhat mystified why, at the time of writing this, “The Duke and I” only features an average score of 3.87. Looking into this made it obvious that one scene from the Netflix series was based on something many reviewers considered a “rape scene”. Fully expecting this to be exaggerated, I started reading - and found myself enjoying things very much: The chemistry between Daphne and Simon that permeates the entire book and that has been transformed so nicely to the TV screen, the bantering, the family - everything was pretty much great. If you like romance (I certainly do! :) ), tinged with fictitious history (I do enjoy a good historical novel at times as well), you can hardly go wrong. Then came that scene… I don’t want to dive in...

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 5 of 5 stars What’s left to be written about “ The Hobbit, or There and Back Again ”, one of the great masterpieces of classic fantasy, written by the “founding father” of high fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien ? “The Hobbit” was lauded by Tolkien’s friend and fellow author C. S. Lewis, by poet W. H. Auden, celebrated for its influence on the entire fantasy genre. To me, it was the metaphorical door to new worlds… I own both several physical copies as well as several ebook editions. I have read “The Hobbit” in both English and German. The one edition I value the most is a German paperback by “DTV” from November 1974 with the title (mis-)translated as “Der kleine Hobbit” (“The Little Hobbit”). It has a ridiculous cover featuring a squint-eyed Smaug with butterfly wings and a tiny spider in front of him. It’s probably the worst cover in “The Hobbit”’s publication history. This very book, though, is the one my mother read about 35 years ago while we wer...

Faking Ms. Right by Claire Kingsley My rating: 4 of 5 stars “ He turned back, meeting my gaze, a disarming openness in his eyes. Right there, in that exact moment, I did a terrible, terrible thing. I fell in love with my boss.” (Just to let you know what you might be about to read. ;-) ) This was another quick and easy read just to relax. I wanted something amusing and entertaining and this “romantic comedy” was just the thing. “ Faking Ms. Right ” is about Everly, the sunshiny assistant of Shepherd Calloway. Shepherd mimes the cold-hearted robot but is, of course, a great person deep inside. To get back at an ex-girlfriend who now dates his own father (yikes!), he manages to convince Everly not only to fake being his girlfriend but to even move in with him. This being a romantic comedy what has to happen happens and they fall in love. Since it’s a “hot romantic comedy” the story encompasses all kinds of encounters in some detail… This is by no means a demanding or sophis...

Worms by Paul Auster My rating: 3 of 5 stars A highly metaphorical short story in which an elderly guy is being kind, is being treated kindly himself, gets hurt nevertheless, falls to his knees but gets up once more to reflect on his past and - my first and only guess - is sinking into dementia while considering how the eponymous worms may taste (when he’s gone to his grave), effectively contemplating death. This is so short, devoid of substantial clues and highly abstract that I lack the patience to analyse it in any detail. I read this because Paul Auster - whom I adore, almost worship - wrote it but even to yours truly this didn’t really appeal. Three out of five stars. Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/worms-by-paul-auster/?feed_id=1020&_unique_id=635808a53e67c

Jeder Mensch by Ferdinand von Schirach Ferdinand von Schirach ist ein beachtlicher Streiter für Recht und Gerechtigkeit - sowohl als Jurist wie auch in seiner “zweiten Karriere” als Schriftsteller . (Jedes seiner bisher veröffentlichten Bücher ist übrigens uneingeschränkt lesenswert.) Er hat ein feines Gespür für das, was Recht ist, was Recht sein könnte und was Recht sein sollte und die Klugheit, sich dafür auf vielerlei Ebenen einzusetzen. In diesem wirklich kurzen Essay (ca. 3.000 Worte) leitet von Schirach nun aus den Werten der US-amerikanischen Unabhängigkeitserklärung die Notwendigkeit sechs einfach anmutender neuer, moderner Grundrechte für ein besseres Europa ab: Artikel 1 – Umwelt Jeder Mensch hat das Recht, in einer gesunden und geschützten Umwelt zu leben. Artikel 2 – Digitale Selbstbestimmung Jeder Mensch hat das Recht auf digitale Selbstbestimmung. Die Ausforschung oder Manipulation von Menschen ist verboten. Artikel 3 – Künstliche Intelligenz Jeder Mensch hat das ...

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager My rating: 4 of 5 stars “ Because the lake’s been lowered by drought, the farthest-reaching branches scrape the bottoms of the canoes, sounding like fingernails trying to scratch their way out of a coffin. ” Wow, this was an unexpected pleasure! Coming from the background of having read too many difficult books lately, I chose this book because it sounded like an easy, light who-dun-it with an interesting premise. Two truths, one lie: a) I greatly enjoyed this book, b) it was an easy read, c) it kept me glued to my Kindle for hours. Of course, b) is the lie because this book was an excellent blend of who-dun-it, thriller, adventure and near-insanity. Emma, a young painter of 28 years, gets invited back to the reopening of an exclusive summer camp for “rich bitches”. The camp was originally closed 15 years ago when – during Emma’s stay there – three of her fellow campers disappeared without a trace. Emma, traumatised by the disappearance...

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the kind of book most of my fellow males will avoid like the plague. All the more so if they ever - by accident, of course! - happen to come across the “Author’s Note” in this book which explicitly states “ Since my readers are almost exclusively women ”… Well, here I am, and I profess: I greatly enjoyed this book despite knowing that it most certainly is (mostly) literary fast food - good to sate ones primal desires but not really nourishing. And I couldn’t care less. I really enjoyed the lovely family dynamics between the Bridgertons and I loved the witty bantering between Anthony and Kate. I just can’t help but root for such wonderful characters and their relationships, their eccentricities and how they overcome them. Is it realistic? Not at all. Historically accurate? Very unlikely. Romantic, cute and thoroughly enjoyable? To me at least, absolutely. You’ll have to be able to generously ignore macho “gem...

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert My rating: 1 of 5 stars Wow, this was such an annoying read! Chloe Sophia Brown comes across as a pampered, snobby whiny, weak damsel in distress who needs rescuing. From this outset, I already didn’t like her. Someone who describes herself like this… “ This mind-blowing bore had zero friends, hadn’t traveled in a decade despite plenty of opportunity, liked to code on the weekends, and never did anything that wasn’t scheduled in her planner. Don’t cry for her; she’s in a better place now. Even Heaven can’t be that dull. ” … is simply someone who is wallowing in her own shitty quality of life. Chloe thinks, feels and behaves like a victim of her fibromyalgia (chronic pain, pressure sensitivity, tiredness, sleep problems, etc.) and Hibbert never ceases to emphasize how horribly suffering her heroine is. Not only from her illness but from being abandoned by her ex-fiancé, every single friend she ever had (we ask ourselves: what kind of “frien...

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary My rating: 5 of 5 stars A breath of fresh non-young-adult romance air! A great premise, brilliant writing. Loved it! After a string of less-than-desirable reading experiences, I opted to go for a fun, light read - a romance! I expected the usual: Some trope, like enemies-to-lovers, banter, quick lovey-dovey, some conflict, reconciliation and a happily ever after. Mostly, romance novels feel like they’re addressing a rather young audience - which I don’t exactly belong to anymore. In “ The Flatshare ” by Beth O'Leary I got banter, on post-it notes. In a shared flat. Written by two adults; Leon, a male nurse with his own mental burdens, with a brother, Richie, who’s in jail, with a mother who has a long history of abusive men in her life. Leon also is a work-a-holic whose girlfriend has demands which Leon needs to meet as well. Last but not least, Leon is on a “humanitarian mission”. Tiffy on the other hand is broke, looking for somewhere to l...

Lonely Planet Unpacked by Lonely Planet My rating: 1 of 5 stars Travel disaster stories were promised but the only disaster were the stories… DNF at 72%. Ever since I stumbled upon “ Kamikaze Kangaroos!: A trip around Oz in a van called Rusty ” by Tony James Slater several years ago, I sometimes like to read travel memoirs - especially when there’s disaster involved! By now, I’ve read all of Tony’s books (and those of many other travellers!) and it seemed a logical next step to take a famous travel guide’s collection of supposedly funny travel stories… Sadly, the promised “disaster stories” here are mostly of the following variety… “Look, I did this and this is why: (long-winded explanations)” “I could have died from that long walk, the road traffic, my inability to overcome inertia, (blah blah)!” “And, lo and behold, I dangerously sprained my ankle!” This is neither very entertaining nor does it make for a good read which is why I’m abandoning this for good. One star out of fiv...

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng My rating: 1 of 5 stars I was immensely looking forward to reading Celeste Ng ’s new novel “ Our Missing Hearts ”. I really enjoyed both Ng’s “ Everything I Never Told You ” and “ Little Fires Everywhere ” for their highly interesting stories, the unusual style of Ng’s storytelling and her sheer eloquence. Sadly, I found none of this in “Our Missing Hearts”: Bird, the boy we’re immediately introduced to and who dominates the first half of the book, remains bland and indistinct. Beyond general empathy for him having lost his mother and living under difficult circumstances with his father, I never really felt for him or got emotionally engaged. For a dystopia, there’s also nothing new or special in this novel: Hatred against what seems to be “foreign”, xenophobia. Books aren’t burned in this society but removed and made into pulp. Children are taken from their parents if the latter don’t intend to raise them by the doctrines of the regime. There’s n...

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom My rating: 2 of 5 stars When I was around the age of 18 - the age of majority in Germany - I felt like I had broken through some magical barrier to adulthood. (I hadn’t.) Now, I felt, it was my sacred duty (it wasn’t) to find out about - imagine a drum roll if you will - nothing lesser than the meaning of life itself. (Didn’t find it.) Young me contacted the most well-meaning, wisest and awe-inspiring people I knew (not my parents) and asked them indirectly what the meaning of life is. I think I received exactly one answer and that went like “You’ll have to find out for yourself.”. It took me about 20 years to figure that one out: There is no “meaning of life”. There is just what we figure out we want to do with our lives and how we live it. I have a vague idea for myself but I’m still figuring it out and I think the “figuring it out” part matters much more than the result - especially since for me, said result is always changing. Not in substa...

Tim im Lande der Sowjets by Hergé My rating: 3 of 5 stars Nach vielen Jahren habe ich auf Empfehlung von Akash diesen “ Tim und Struppi ”-Comic mal wieder gelesen. Es ist das allererste Werk in dieser Comic-Reihe und sein Alter (Entstehungszeit 1929 bis 1930) ist unverkennbar. Die damalige Sowjet-Union, die als Heimat der gefährlichen kommunistischen Horden gesehen wurde, hat so natürlich nie existiert und der gesamte Comic leidet etwas unter dem Fehlen eines echten Plots. Ja, man erkennt die Entwicklung Hergés als Künstler im Verlauf des vorliegenden Bandes, aber es ist doch alles sehr rudimentär und die späteren “Co-Stars” wie Kapitain Haddock, Professor Bienlein oder die beiden Detektive fehlen noch gänzlich. Insofern sei interessierten (Comic-)Lesern oder Nostalgikern der Einstieg z. B. mit “Das Geheimnis der Einhorn” empfohlen. View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/tim-im-lande-der-sowjets-von-herge/?feed_id=951&_unique_id=634987efbd900

Heroes Wanted: A Fantasy Anthology by Laura M. Hughes My rating: 4 of 5 stars A nice albeit very short short story featuring Michael J. Sullivan's Hadrian and Royce (Riyria). It is part of the Riyria Chronicles . There’s so little actual story, I won’t summarise it here. Suffice it to say you won’t be disappointed even though there’s a slight deja-vu feeling… Thankfully, the “ Heroes Wanted ” anthology which it is part of can be gotten for free from Amazon fairly often and so you have nothing to lose. Four out of five stars for a happy reunion with Riyria! Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/the-ashmoore-affair-from-heroes-wanted-a-fantasy-anthology-laura-m-hughes-by-michael-j-sullivan/?feed_id=944&_unique_id=63483656b42b8

A Death at the Office by Frank J. Edler My rating: 1 of 5 stars This was a singularly weak book. In short, there’s not just death but Death personified (so far not too unusual) - and there’s a whole corporation of them. All called Death which leads to oh-so-funny encounters with the “ Help Death ” towards whom another Death insists on calling “Help Desk” and so on… Trying way too hard to be funny but having no discernible talent for writing (and humour) seems to be the primary issue here. Two examples so you can decide for yourself: » Tattered Black Telephone™ and a Tattered Black Notepad™. On the Tattered Black Notepad™, Death found an old Tattered Black Message™ scrawled a millennia ago, on the last shift change. The Tattered Black Message™ read: « The continued use of “TM" does not excuse the repetitiveness of the whole “Tattered Black something” stuff. It is just annoying and pretty much everything is tattered black… » move? To Acapulco?” “Acapulco? What? No. They say he...

Nachmittage von Ferdinand von Schirach My rating: 4 of 5 stars » Nur stimmte es nicht, wir müssen immer bezahlen. Jede unserer Handlungen beruht auf längst schon getroffenen Entscheidungen, wir entkommen uns nicht, ganz gleich, was wir tun. « “Was für ein Glück, es ist ein Schirach!”, dachte ich, als ich " Nachmittage " zufrieden zu Ende gelesen hatte. Es kommt allerdings leider weder qualitativ noch quantitativ ganz an seinen großartigen Vorgänger “ Kaffee und Zigaretten ” heran, aber es sind wieder sehr interessante Geschichten dabei und es ist wiederum ein sehr persönliches Buch, daß Ferdinand von Schirach abgeliefert hat. Er erzählt ruhig, in seinem typischen lakonischen Stil, von (seinen) Erlebnissen mit den verschiedensten Menschen in unterschiedlichsten Situationen. Es ist ein bißchen, als habe Ferdinand von Schirach es sich in einem Sessel bequem gemacht und erzähle seinen Lesern nun (mehr oder minder wahre) Anekdoten aus seinem Leben. Allein bei zwei Geschicht...

Zur See , von Dörte Hansen My rating: 5 of 5 stars » Man glaubt, wenn man auf einer Insel aufgewachsen ist, an die Gezeiten und den Fahrplan einer Fähre. « Dörte Hansen hat eine Gabe: Sie setzt nicht nur verschwindenden Kulturen ein literarisches Denkmal, sondern schreibt - zumindest mir - auch direkt in die Seele. In “ Zur See ” schreibt sie ganz schlicht über das Leben auf einer Nordseeinsel und deren Bewohner - sowohl die Alteingesessenen, die oft schon ihr ganzes Leben auf, an und mit der Insel gelebt - und an ihr gelitten - haben. Von den Badegästen zu den Kurz- und Tages-Trippern, die immer mehr “einfallen” bis hin zu jenen, die sich ihren “Inseltraum” verwirklichen wollen und dann merken, daß es vielleicht auf Dauer eben doch nicht nur “schön” auf der Insel ist… » Sie halten es nie lange aus in ihren Inselhäusern. Nach ein paar Tagen fühlen sie sich wie bei ihren alten Eltern zu Besuch: bloß weg, bei aller Liebe, denn die Alten haben Macken, werden eigen und erzählen immer...

Something to Hide by Elizabeth George My rating: 2 of 5 stars A mystery and police procedural derailed by the author’s stumbling (repeated) attempt at conveying an important message I used to be a huge fan of the Inspector Lynley mysteries by Elizabeth George as they were always suspenseful, exciting, interesting, serious and, sometimes, unobtrusively presented ideas about social issues as well. The mystery always came first, though. This worked very well for the first 12 books in this series. In book 13, though, George killed off an important character and used book 14 to explore what led to this murder - and derailed the entire series. Since that book, most of George’s “mysteries” are actually prolonged social commentaries with the actual mystery and police procedural parts playing a “supporting role” only. Social commentary is fine and can actually add to and even improve a mystery. However, it takes a special sensitivity and caution in order to integrate it “seamlessly” int...

Die Schwarze Insel by Hergé My rating: 3 of 5 stars Nachdem die ersten Bände in - aus europäischer Sicht - weiter Ferne spielten und darunter die eigentliche Geschichte meist sehr litt und zudem sehr häufig Verharmlosung imperialistischer, kolonialistischer und auch rassistischer Vorgänge betrieben, ist dieser Band nun wohltuend anders: Hier kommt Tim zufällig einer Geldfälscherbande auf die Spur und verfolgt diese durch Europa bis nach Schottland. Weite Teile des Albums werden allerdings von der puren Verfolgung eingenommen, die zwar nett, aber - zumindest aus heutiger Perspektive - nicht wirklich besonders ist. Zur Einordnung: Ursprünglich erschien “ Die Schwarze Insel ” von 1937 bis 1938 wie seinerzeit üblich in einer Zeitschrift. Eine bereits modifizierte Neuauflage erfolgte 1943 und eine letzte große Überarbeitung endete 1965 mit einer modernisierten und “aufgehübschten” Fassung. Diese bis heute meistverbreitete Version habe ich gelesen. 1965 liegt aber heute bereits 57 Jah...

Herkunft , von Saša Stanišić My rating: 5 of 5 stars “ »Wo bist du zu Hause?« »Meine Sonne«, sagt Großmutter. »Meine Freude. Mein Esel. Begreif das endlich. Es zählt nicht, wo was ist. Oder woher man ist. Es zählt, wohin du gehst. Und am Ende zählt nicht mal das. Schau mich an: Ich weiß weder, woher ich komme, noch wohin ich gehe. Und ich kann dir sagen: Manchmal ist das gar nicht so schlecht.« ” Ein neues Jahr und die erste Rezension - zu diesem Anlaß habe ich einmal mehr in meiner Muttersprache gelesen. Saša Stanišić war mir als Autor völlig unbekannt und nur durch die Vorstellung seines Buches “Herkunft”, das den Deutschen Buchpreis 2019 gewann, in “Druckfrisch” und das Gespräch zwischen dem von mir hoch geschätzten Denis Scheck und Stanišić, wurde ich auf ihn aufmerksam. Um es gleich vorweg zu nehmen: “Herkunft” ist ein überaus persönliches Buch und erzählt aus Stanišić’ Leben. Insofern mag nicht jeder sich mit diesem Werk anfreunden können. Auch ich tat mich insbesonde...

Bedrock & Exherbo - duo infernale ! ;-) Due to the attempts of an Exherbo user to get it supported in Bedrock Linux , I got curious about it myself. So, what's Bedrock? "Bedrock Linux is a meta Linux distribution which allows users to utilize features from other, typically mutually exclusive distributions. Essentially, users can mix-and-match components as desired." (Source: https://bedrocklinux.org/ ) To me, that was immediately interesting as I simply cannot spend as much time on Exherbo as I used to (which was a whole damn lot). Bedrock looked like a potential solution to basically run two (or even more!) distributions at once - and, thus, be able to actually run a binary distribution but to use (and maintain!) some Exherbo packages (or a subset of those). Thus, I took a closer look, found it pretty easy to add " fetching " support (which means you can actually run a command that fetches our stage and adds it as a Bedrock "stratum...