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  • April 26, 2023 18:15
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April 26, 2023 18:15
Hello PeterMotte , I am not a book reader. You seem like a good guy, but that Ezz is getting on my nerves a bit. Or there, or here. Make up your mind, I don't think both are possible.
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  • April 26, 2023 19:44
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April 26, 2023 19:44
Yes, but it's not me. First of all, I don't really understand what exactly is getting on your nerves. Second, I say: discuss reading and what is related to it, beyond collecting, there and not here. Here I never wanted to start that. That is precisely the issue.
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  • April 28, 2023 14:24
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April 28, 2023 14:24
Last Men in London has finally been described.
See here .
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  • April 28, 2023 17:42
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April 28, 2023 17:42
It had been years since I had read anything by Isaac Asimov , but this collection SF: The best of the best, ed.: Judith Merril says "Dreaming is a private thing". Strangely enough, it never seems to have been translated into Dutch.
Maybe that has something to do with the quality: one of the characters says about five times (5!) "I'm an old man". Yes, after the first time you know that. And for him to say it a second time, okay, the reader's memory can be short. But three times, and even five times? On a story of about 15 pages? That's a mess though.
But other than that there is little to note. It had been a long time since I had read anything by Asimov, and then something like this is a bit of a new chance to get to know him, and that's not too bad: he doesn't waste time on unnecessary digressions, the characters are established fairly quickly ( unless they develop a form of stuttering in which they repeat entire sentences, apparently), and it contains an original idea: some people are excellent dreamers (although they appear to be daydreaming), and a technique has been developed to record that, so other people can view it. It's a sophisticated version of film.
The nice thing is not that idea in itself, but what Asimov still tells about it, about what developments are taking place with it, and how the psychology of the dreamers themselves works. And that their work is indispensable because some people are completely incapable of dreaming, and need the dreamers' creations to rest mentally.

"Dreaming is a private thing" follows another story about a new treatment of media, namely "The Sound Sweep" by JG Ballard . At about forty pages, this is the longest story in the entire collection, and it is more like a short novel than a novella. The idea is that sound always leaves a lingering residue in the environment, which some people need to clean up to prevent it from becoming a nuisance. But Ballard weaves a whole intrigue around it, with an opera singer whose career came to a halt because all kinds of curious evolutions in music made her redundant, and a "sound sweeper" who is mute herself but wants to help her break through again.
What is remarkable about both this story and the previous one is that both have a tragic end, although Ballard has a stronger one.

by
http://ezzulia.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=217&t=15191
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  • April 28, 2023 18:31
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April 28, 2023 18:31
PeterMotte

Very nice how you can put down in a 1/2 a4 why you like a certain book. In this case the SF genre, which doesn't appeal to me. However, I can understand why SF readers find it interesting. I am one of the readers who pick up a book every day, but where you have the favorites, I am therefore a frequent reader of few authors. Once "addicted" is then at most based on reviews and opinions of others > "try" the recommended author and in 99 out of 100 cases after 1 at most 2 chapters > slam shut and fall back on those favorite authors. And no matter how good I think those books are, I wouldn't think twice about writing an epistle about them. But admiration for those readers who like it and are also good at it.

For what it's worth, without revealing the content: my favorites: (so no SF)
John Connolly; James Lee Burke; RD Wingfield (albeit only a handful of "Frost" books. Not comparable to the nice TV series; John D McDonald, Ross mc Donald, John Harvey : Henning Mankell; Stephen Booth.
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  • April 28, 2023 19:34
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April 28, 2023 19:34
Harry56
Thank you for the pleasant response.
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  • May 01, 2023 13:29
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May 01, 2023 13:29
Ezzulia is actually a quiet forum with not a lot of activity, because most members are just...reading.
But every month they organize a reading challenge. One of them determines what type of books are eligible for that month, and then the members choose one or more books that meet that criterion and post short or long pieces on the forum, inspiring the choice that other members can make .
That is the core of the relations between the members.
And today the May Challenge begins.
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  • May 06, 2023 09:21
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May 06, 2023 09:21
Areview of SF: The Best of the Best , edited by Judith Merril
Booklet from 1967.
#1885627 -sf (handy, that reference to LD numbers)
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  • July 09, 2023 11:18
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July 09, 2023 11:18
The forum Ezzulia ends. Its last day is August 31, 2023. From September 1, 2023, you will no longer be able to find it.
My blog will continue. It was originally about comics and was mainly intended to promote comic artist Andreas, but nowadays it is also about books. The reviews I had put on Ezzulia normally appear gradually on my blog. There are about one hundred and fifty.
Stopping Ezzulia is disorienting. PhpBB forums were very popular for a while, but not much of that remains today. There are therefore no real alternatives for Ezzulia.
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  • July 09, 2023 18:35
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July 09, 2023 18:35
Too bad for you that the Ezzulia forum is shutting down PeterMotte . I think you are losing something precious with this.
I can only say, try it on LD, I think there will be different reactions anyway.

And if nothing comes up, I can always comment, even if I don't know anything about it.
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  • July 09, 2023 19:41
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July 09, 2023 19:41
Thank you. Indeed, something is lost.
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