leventmolla's reviews
1640 reviews

This is the third book of the "Dragonriders of Pern" series from Anne McCaffrey. As usual, it tells a story of the intricate political and social struggles between the Dragonriders and other inhabitants of the Planet Pern, with a focus on the White Dragon Ruth. Smaller than other members of her species, Ruth will prove to be very important in the Dragonriders' understanding of dragon abilities and the past of Pern. It is a slow moving book and requires utmost concentration and focus in order not to meet the intricate events and discussions within the context of the Dragonriders.

I would not have expected anything less from Nabokov. In this book of his early childhood memoirs, he is jumping into his typical prose describing inanimate objects, people, places that are coming from his amazing photographic memory, triggered by a seemingly insignificant object. In some cases he is re-building his memory using information he has obtained retrospectively and this gives his memoirs the unique taste of his novels. I likened the style to his novel Transparent Things, which is rich with long stream-of-consciousness passages and detailed descriptions of collections of objects.

It is a bit disappointing that the book only covers his early childhood, since we know his life has been quite interesting even after the initial period described, mainly reflected in his many fiction books.

It is quite a treat for Nabokovians but could cause overdose in metaphors for the unwary.

This is an interesting book looking into behaviours individuals engage when interacting with other people and classifies the behaviour as assertive, non-assertive and aggressive. The goal is to use assertive behaviour as much as possible in order to protect our own rights and advance our preferences, without being aggressive. Most people become non-assertive since they think any assertion might have consequences or they would not want to be seen as aggressive. Some others think the only way to achieve results is to be aggressive, but this is old thinking and it is no longer correct.

The authors show different ways to act assertively in our relations, mostly in the workplace. There are exercises and techniques to accomplish this.

Although this is not rocket science, I found it quite instructive and it led me to think about the engagements I have in my daily work and how I could improve this to accomplish the results I would like to have.

The blurb in the back cover of this hefty tome (779 pages) says "The books that reinvented epic Science Fiction". A quick search for Epic SF on the Goodreads site returns Dune, Hyperion, Star Wars, Orson Scott Card's Ender series and some others. I can partially agree, just looking at the scale of events in each of these books, they span the universe or galaxy, can take several years and nothing less than the fate of humanity is at stake.

I do like epic elements in Science Fiction. It all depends on the story and how it is presented. I had mixed feelings about the Hyperion books.

The first book (Hyperion) starts with seven pilgrims staring a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion, just when humanity is in the brink of starting an all-out galactic war with the Ousters. The pilgrims have been chosen in different ways and they all have a different reason to join the pilgrimage. While travelling to Hyperion and then trying to reach the Time Vaults and face the legendary creature (the Shrike) which could instantly kill them or opening the secrets of the universe to them, each of the pilgrims will have the chance to tell their story. Using the ancient literary technique of stories within a story (like in One Thousand and One Nights), each one goes through their story, which basically confuses all of them by introducing a different, but possibly contradictory aspect of the Shrike and what it might do.

The first book ends as they are facing an uncertain encounter with the creature who is part god and part The Grim Reaper. The second book takes over from that period and brings the epic story to its conclusion. It is a complex story that requires a lot of attention. Not all mysteries are solved, there are hooks to sequels (which have been written since) and it introduces a lot of interesting concept about Artificial Intelligence, Cyberspace, the nature of humanity and artificiality, computers evolving to a different level etc.

I am sure these books have a lot of fans. Although I enjoyed reading them, I would have preferred a more lucid expression instead of the complicated weaves the books bring.

Mildly interesting historical romance/adventure novel set at Ancient Rome. The state of women's nonexistent rights in Ancient Rome, the class difference and struggle between the Patricis and the Plebes are some of the threads in this novel. Not very original, but readable.

Selim İleri her zaman ilgiyle izlediğim yazarlardan biri, özellikle gençliğimde çok kitabını okumuşluğum var. Edebiyat bilgisine de güvendiğim için Everest'ten çıkan "Edebiyatımızda Sevdiğim Romanlar Kılavuzu"nu görünce tereddütsüz aldım. Yazar kitabın adının da belirttiği gibi kendi sevdiği romanları oldukça öznel bir seçim kriteriyle kitabına almış. Doğrusu buna itirazım yok, bu tür kitapları daha önce de gördüm. Eğer yazarına güveniyorsanız oldukça keyifli bir kaynak kitap olabiliyorlar.

Bu kitaptaki sorun ise her bir tanıtım yazısının çok kısa olması. İleri genellikle bir iki paragrafta kitabın kendisindeki anısını ya da neden önemli olduğunu anlatıyor ve bu bölümler kuşkusuz edebiyat tarihimiz açısından önemli anektodlar içeriyor. Sonra kitabın konusunun kısa bir özetini veriyor ve yazının sonunda da kısa bir alıntı (ya da eski kitaplar için sadeleştirilmiş bir alıntı) veriyor. Beni hayal kırıklığına uğratan tek şey bu oldu. 1874-1980 yılları arasını kapsayan 632 sayfalık bu dev kitap sonuçta her bir roman için son derece kısıtlı yorum ve bilgileri içeriyor. İleri'nin ayrıntılı değerlendirme yazılarını kalitesini bildiğim için de bu beni daha fazla rahatsız etti. Yine de varlığindan haberdar olmadığım bir çok kitabın en azından bilgilerini aldığım için de memnunum.