User Profile

Paranoid Fish

Paranoid-Fish@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 2 months ago

I read books in German and English. I try to explore a wide range of literature, especially fiction, and I also like challenging texts. In general, all periods and genres, with a preference for postmodern literature. I also like magical realism, sci-fi, sometimes fantasy, but more urban than high fantasy. I usually don't like historical fiction, crime novels and thrillers, but there are some exceptions. I also often read aloud, that's why books for all ages appear here.

Lese auf deutsch und auf englisch. Ich versuche, mir ein möglichst weites Feld an Literatur, vor allem der Belletristik, zu erschließen; es darf gerne auch mal herausfordernd sein. Grundsätzlich alle Epochen, alle Genres, mit besonderer Vorliebe für die Postmoderne. Magischer Realismus und Sci-Fi gerne, phantastisches manchmal, aber eher Urban- als High Fantasy. Nicht so gerne lese ich historische Romane, Krimis oder Thriller, aber es gibt auch einige Ausnahmen. Häufig lese ich auch vor, deshalb tauchen hier Bücher für alle Altersgruppen auf.

last readings/zuletzt gelesen

My Favorite Books/Lieblingsbücher

read in 2024

Mastodon: Weird Fish weirdfish@literatur.social

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Paranoid Fish's books

Currently Reading

Stopped Reading (View all 5)

2025 Reading Goal

6% complete! Paranoid Fish has read 3 of 50 books.

reviewed American Pastoral by Philip Roth (The American Trilogy, #1)

Philip Roth: American Pastoral (Paperback, 2016, Vintage Books) 4 stars

American Pastoral takes a look at the 1960's in America from the perspective of Philip …

a very unreliable narrator

5 stars

A story within a story. I liked how the frame story flows seamlessly into the actual narrative, which in turn is a completely fictionalized biography by the narrator about an acquaintance about whom he actually knows very little, except that his daughter (presumably) committed a terrorist attack. As if the author is taking a double distance, a very unreliable narrator, very postmodern. Along the way, you also learn all about how leather gloves are made. A great book.

commented on Freiheit by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen: Freiheit (Hardcover, German language, 2010, Rowohlt) 5 stars

Patty und Walter Berglund - Vorzeigeeltern und Umweltpioniere, fast schon ideale Nachbarn in ihrer selbst …

Content warning Disgusting, but a great literary metaphor, revealing a main character's development

Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow (Paperback, 2006, Penguin Classics) 4 stars

Tyrone Slothrop, a GI in London in 1944, has a big problem. Whenever he gets …

There is a very surreal chapter in this book that I think was the inspiration for the scene in the film Trainspotting where the guy dives into the toilet and into an underwater world. It's even more disgusting here, although it's also a bit funny.

reviewed The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy, #1-3)

Paul Auster: The New York Trilogy (2015, Faber & Faber, Limited) 4 stars

The New York Trilogy is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that …

Two good and one great novel

5 stars

These three novellas have something in common, although I can't quite put my finger on it. It's all about searching for someone who doesn't want to be found or about watching someone who is aware of being watched. The first story was the most strange of them, seemed a little incomplete to me and I didn't know what to make of it, the second one seemed rather abstract, unreal in a way, though still quite compelling, but the third one was exactly what I look for in literature: a rich story full of little meanders, with authentic, relatable people in it. I particularly liked this third novel "The Locked Room", but without the other two, something would have been missing.

commented on The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy, #1-3)

Paul Auster: The New York Trilogy (2015, Faber & Faber, Limited) 4 stars

The New York Trilogy is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that …

I like part three of the trilogy, "The Locked Room", much better than the other two novellas. The storytelling is less abstract and I can relate to the characters. Furthermore, the mystery is more compelling, but still fits thematically with the other stories.

commented on The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy, #1-3)

Paul Auster: The New York Trilogy (2015, Faber & Faber, Limited) 4 stars

The New York Trilogy is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that …

The second part of the trilogy, „ghosts“, is now behind me. It made an even more constructed impression on me than part one, and I do not mean this in a negative way, knowing that this is intentional, although it’s not quite my cup of tea either. However, the story will linger on in my mind for a while.

commented on The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (The New York Trilogy, #1-3)

Paul Auster: The New York Trilogy (2015, Faber & Faber, Limited) 4 stars

The New York Trilogy is an astonishing and original book: three cleverly interconnected novels that …

Finished the first part of the trilogy, “City of Glass”. It was interesting, and more experimental than I would have expected from Paul Auster, even if the story left me a bit confused; I liked “4 3 2 1” much better. Let's see how “Ghosts” is...