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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 4d

It's been pretty interesting! I'm halfway through it now, a little slow going but I enjoy that

ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 4d

It really is, man. I had always wondered about the role of human religion to alien species relations, and he manages to keep it as interesting as his Fire Gospel book

ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 4d

Sure is! More of a minister than a priest trying to survive Planet Extreme-tropic. It's slow going but a really human tale. Faber knows how to illustrate the less glamorous parts of a person's mind (especially the male mind, doesn't seem to go much into the female point of view from what I've read)

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 5d

Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things waxes poetic about the quiet anxiety of looking at a full email inbox:
"Each capsule bore a number: the date of transmission. To his wife, these messages were already History. To him, they were a frozen Present, yet to be experienced."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 12d

Fell in love with Jose Saramago all over again while rereading Cain, his skeptic take on the old testament:
"God should be as clear and transparent as a pane of glass and not go wasting his energies on creating an atmosphere of constant terror and fear."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · 26d

For today's #SundaySentence, The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee reminds us taking charge also means making sacrifices:
"You can't win every battle, no matter how powerful or clever or perfect you are."

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Sep 7

I'm pretty sure we're living through something that'll be in history books and documentaries, our grandchildren will asks us what we did or how we're things during Trump, it feels chaotic and we're not even a year in

ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Sep 7

Just finished The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee this week and, really, it 𝘥𝘰 be like that sometimes:
"The major cultural contribution of this part of the country was recording yourself dancing alongside your car while it rolled forward with no one driving it."
Fun read!
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Aug 31

Reread Alan Moore's (and Dave Gibbons') Watchmen this week, and I couldn't not share this beautifully time-bending #SundaySentence with you:
"Things have their shape in time, not space alone. Some marble blocks have statues within them, embedded in their future."

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Aug 24

While not perfect, Nisio Isin's Otorimomogatari (translated by Ko Ransom) contains a fun deconstruction of the human's place in the food chain that starts right here:
"Humans—aren't eaten by anything. We only eat, only kill... There's no punishment for our crime."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Aug 17

On a philosophy kick right now and Slavoj Žižek's In Defense of Lost Causes scratches that itch of existential crisis:
"We feel free because we lack the very language to articulate our unfreedom."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Aug 10

Finished R. F. Kuang's The Burning God this week and I'll never forget this trilogy, such a hateful, sad story had to have a quote that encapsulates the whole thing:
"Hate was its own kind of fire and if you had nothing else, it kept you warm."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Aug 3

Great turn of phrase by R. F. Kuang's The Burning God:
"Let them think of us as dirt, Rin thought. She was dirt. Her army was dirt. But dirt was common, ubiquitous, and patient, and necessary. The soil gave life to the country."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jul 27

For all its darkness, R. F. Kuang's The Dragon Republic can also be both poetic and tragic:
"Fire and water looked so lovely together. It was a pity they destroyed each other by nature."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jul 20

Right? This whole trilogy is one big smack to the face, and I love it for it. Shamans, gods and emperors fighting each other in a grim dark fantasy inspired by real history and avatar the last airbender? Yes please

ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jul 20

This sobering picture of war from R. F. Kuang's The Dragon Republic:
"They burned for someone else’s war, someone else’s wrongs; someone they had never met had made the decision they should die, so in their last moments they would have had no idea why their skin was scorching off."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jul 13

This Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus quote will live rent-free in my head when human augmentation starts:
"You want to know how super-intelligent cyborgs might treat ordinary flesh-and-blood humans? Better start by investigating how humans treat their less intelligent animal cousins."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jul 6

R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War reminds us that there's no such thing as leaving things to chance: "You humans always think you’re destined for things, for tragedy or for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 29

R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War gives us a sobering tale that rings true for both the 20th century and today:
"War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who remains."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 22

It's so great, the way he reasoned out the world took me back to when I was a child, piecing out the mystery of the house was so fun

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 22

Thanks! Piranesi has been quite the trip, it was a great read, almost flew by

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 22

With this rather birdy #SundaySentence, Susanna Clarke's Piranesi invites us to reason out the world through the mind of a child:
"Perhaps the wisdom of birds resides, not in the individual, but in the flock, the congregation."

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 15

Douglas Adams' Mostly Harmless imparting some truths. Also see: the US constitution.
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
#SundaySentence

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 13

🍁🚬
#books #booktok 💙📚

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ManTheDan @manthedan.bsky.social · Jun 8

Wanted to revisit George Orwell's Animal Farm for some light reading. This #SundaySentence rings true to late stage capitalism as well:
"Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer–except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs."

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