User Profile

Late Review, I read this a while ago. It was a really good read, though. I think technically it's non-fiction but it reads like an adventure novel. It has everything you'd expect from a naval story like this: Adventure, a hard-boiled crew, storms, stubborn captains, mutiny, survival on deserted hostile islands. Best part: This all really happened. It gives a good glimpse of 18. century sea life against the background of spanish-english rivalries. Have given this as a gift to people, highly recommend!

After quite a break from Bookwyrm: This is the one I'm currently reading.

Read this a while ago. It's kinda depressing that I feel like I needed to read that. Everyone who lives in a country in which rght wing forces are gaining more and more momentum (so basically: everyone) can maybe unverstanden why this resonated with me.

It describes strategies to slow down, hinder, make lifes harder of such forces when they are grasping for power. It describes how such forces gain power.

So pretty essential. And good to know that there are strategies to fight back.

So, I'm new to Bookwyrm and discovering... So best to start with this gem. It's actually my favorite book - like in "my top 1 of all time". I have read it 4 times? 5 times? I've read the epilogue a lot more often. Can't really tell you why I love it soo much. Probably because it's a medieval story, a murder mystery to be precise. Probably because it has a medieval Sherlock Holmes in it. Doing all his Sherlock Holmes things: doing impossible deductions from absolutely tiny evidence, being all reasonable, explaining stuff to a flabbergasted Watson, i mean Adson. And Eco being an expert on everything he is writing here about makes it immersive and so incredibly detailed... And its commentary about open information, censorship, reason, the love for books. I'll stop now, otherwise I just end up reading it again.

As someone who has loved the Arthurian Legend since my late teens and has read one or the other iteration over the years (including Le Morte d'Arthur straight outta the 15th century), I enjoyed this fresh take. It has modern times but still the good old stuff any Arthur-Fan loves: beasts to slay, valiant but flawed knights and senselessly beating each others heads in. It also made me lol quite a bit (but to be fair more in the first half of it). I have seen the style likened to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. And although I laughed and had a good time reading it, I wouldn't say it reaches those heights. But maybe that's a bit much to ask. ;-)