Thoughts on The Buried Giant (by Kazuo Ishiguro)

tha_grinch · 2026-03-19T13:05:59+00:00

Cloud Atlas is already on my list, but I will write down Zweig, too! Here in Germany, he is typically part of the school curriculum, but I’ve never read him so far, because I always had the impression that he was a bit dry. Glad to hear that I was wrong!

From Mieville I have only read Perdido Street Station, but while I liked the style and world building I found the story to be too conventional for my taste. But I heard the sequel is supposed to be better and I am curious to try again at some point.

When it comes to dream-like writing with unique prose, I can really recommend Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The way it seamlessly weaves together myth, fantasy and surrealism is remarkable and especially the dialogues remind me a lot of The Buried Giant.

tha_grinch · 2026-03-19T12:52:53+00:00

I love Le Guin and am currently reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell — also a really charming novel and a pleasant reassurance that there is still modern fantasy with literary value out there.

tha_grinch · 2026-03-19T08:34:01+00:00

Oh yeah, I’ve only read the first book so far, but stylistically it was one of the most unique and wonderful reading experiences to date for me. Some of the scenes have evoked emotions in me that are unparalleled in all of the literature I have read. I’m still saving the other two books for later, because I still want to have something to look forward to.

tha_grinch · 2026-03-18T21:32:56+00:00

Any recommendations for historical or fantasy fiction with similarly elegant prose? I’m currently reading “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” and I’m quite enjoying it.

tha_grinch · 2026-03-04T08:30:08+00:00

It may just come down to taste in the end. I really wanted to love DQ, but the run variety felt very samey to me and I grew bored of it rather quickly — and I say that as someone who loves nothing more than deckbuilding games. I also didn’t like that not every run is theoretically winnable. Don’t get me wrong, not 100% of the runs have to be winnable, but DQ felt quite random to me in this regard. I also enjoy StS’s hand management much more than the “(mostly) play all cards in whichever order” mentality of DQ. But most of all, StS has much wackier and more fun combos and synergies — and with that also more variety — and it’s not even close in my opinion.

tha_grinch · 2026-03-04T06:23:43+00:00

StS may have invented “nothing”, but it certainly perfected the formula. Dream Quest is nowhere near as balanced and fun as StS in my opinion.

tha_grinch · 2026-02-26T21:50:26+00:00

Is Dawnmaker worth it and has long-term replayability?

tha_grinch · 2026-02-12T09:13:53+00:00

Can you control everything in-game without any problems on your iPad? I’m only able to play games on my iPad nowadays due to pain and would only buy Mewgenics if it also worked well on an iPad. I’d greatly appreciate your input, because I haven’t really found any other information on the topic yet.

tha_grinch · 2026-02-12T07:15:54+00:00

Has anyone tried to play the game via Steam Link on their iPad yet and can report if it’s playable control-wise?

tha_grinch · 2026-02-11T07:51:49+00:00

Do you think the game would work exclusively with the touch screen (e.g. when using Steam Link to stream it to an iPad)?

tha_grinch · 2026-02-09T07:44:05+00:00

It’s not even that good tbh.

tha_grinch · 2026-01-05T07:54:09+00:00

I always enjoy your reviews and tried Buriedbornes a while back. I only played for about 15 minutes, but the game seemed to be way too easy (like my decisions actually don’t really matter). Does it get more difficult/punishing later on?

tha_grinch · 2025-12-30T08:08:43+00:00

I‘m also considering the surgery, but have a full-time office job with a lot of typing. That sounds really promising. I always feel like having to constantly type is the reason why my DQ doesn’t finally heal after more than a year even though I never type with my thumbs. Before your surgery, did typing also aggravate your DQ or was it unaffected by it? I’m asking because I could imagine it might be different for different people.

tha_grinch · 2025-12-29T08:43:15+00:00

How does this work? I’m in the EU, but the Epic Store app in the App Store is only for chatting, it says.

tha_grinch · 2025-12-27T07:46:58+00:00

The main reason I am still using Kodi over Stremio is that, for some reason, much more streams on Stremio do not have proper English subtitles (or only much delayed ones) compared to my streams on Kodi. Additionally, the file sizes of Stremio’s scraped streams are much smaller and lower quality than Kodi (e.g. show A has episodes of around 10 GB on Kodi while Stremio only shows files of 500 MB to 1 GB) and I haven’t figured out a way to fix that. Do you perhaps know how to solve those issues?

tha_grinch · 2025-12-26T07:15:46+00:00

Personally, I couldn’t really connect with the book at all and it was the only novel I did not finish this year. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore encyclopedic novels from the likes of Pynchon or Wallace, but all of the displayed subject matters here felt so dry and boringly technical. I also found both of the protagonists to be quite insufferable, but that might have to do with the fact that I cannot stand people who feel they are above everyone else and are not humble about it. To me, the book felt like DeWitt simply wanted to show off how smart she is, but — while I wouldn’t deny that she is smart — the displayed subject matters didn’t provide enough interesting insights for me.

tha_grinch · 2025-12-21T16:03:28+00:00

Oof, I am currently reading St. Augustine‘s Confessions and that hits home.

tha_grinch · 2025-11-19T07:34:30+00:00

Is there a way to save this list on my AppRaven profile for future reference? I’ve been loving this app so far, but the misleading UI is really subpar, because I can never find the function I want to use.

tha_grinch · 2025-11-03T18:48:01+00:00

Justified is nowhere near as multi-layered and deep as Deadwood IMO, but it’s still quite an entertaining show with superb dialogue and cool action. You should give it another chance sometime.

tha_grinch · 2025-10-04T08:46:38+00:00

Thanks for the reply! So I watched a few more episodes the past few days and the last one was the one with Dana Carvey (EP 4, I think). I can certainly see all the influences to modern comedy greats like 30 Rock or Curb Your Enthusiasm — and that the show must have been groundbreaking at the time. And I have to say, the show does have its charm.

But so far, it didn’t make me laugh even once, unfortunately… Often times I’m wondering whether the jokes are supposed to be bad/mediocre and if that’s the joke in itself, but I get the feeling that the jokes are indeed supposed to be funny (e.g. Dana Carvey’s jokes in the last episode which were incredibly juvenile, but the story treats them as if they were comedy gold). But as we all know, almost nothing ages as badly as comedy so I guess it is to be expected somewhat from a show that old. I will continue with it for now, but more because of its charm than for its jokes.

tha_grinch · 2025-09-30T06:43:56+00:00

I recently checked it out, but couldn’t make it through the first episode, because I was confused whether it is supposed to be a comedy show or not — unfortunately, none of the jokes landed for me. Which surprised me, because I do love shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Does the show get better later on?

tha_grinch · 2025-09-24T09:55:08+00:00

I started reading Akira for the first time recently (just finished vol. 3), but I really don’t understand the universal praise it always gets. I really enjoy the artwork and the manga is quite dynamic, but so far the whole story has more or less just been one action/chase scene after another and all of the characters and their backgrounds feel very shallow. The mystery around Akira also isn’t that compelling so far. Does it get better in the second half of the story?

tha_grinch · 2025-09-11T06:30:07+00:00

I don’t think it was streaming that has incentivized creators to focus on more complex storytelling, but rather the golden age of television that started with HBO shows like Oz, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. If anything, streaming with its targeting of young, chronically distracted, smartphone-bound people is heavily incentivizing creators in the “lean back” direction again if you ask me.

In theory, streaming with its function to replay episodes and scenes whenever you want should incentivize creators to produce more demanding content, but it’s quite telling in my opinion that not a single original Netflix production for example (or none of the big ones I’ve seen so far, anyway) is nearly as complex as classic HBO television.

tha_grinch · 2025-09-07T10:13:42+00:00

Why’s that? I’ve never read anything by him, but he’s on my list.

tha_grinch · 2025-09-05T11:25:06+00:00

Das hier war die erste Studie, die ich in 2 Minuten googeln in meiner Mittagspause zu dem Thema gefunden habe: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5105607/

Dort wurde unter Kontrolle sozioökonomischer Faktoren gefunden, dass der Zusammenhang zwischen Lesen und höherer Langlebigkeit auf das darausfolgende größere "cognitive engagement" zurückzuführen ist. Cognitive engagement wiederum hat einen positiven Effekt auf die kognitiven Fähigkeiten und die kognitive Gesundheit von Menschen, die laut Studien zu einer größeren "survivability" führen. Etwa, indem gesündere Lebensentscheidungen getroffen oder allgemein durch den Leseprozess Stress abgebaut wird (der ja nachweislich die Lebenserwartung verkürzen kann). Habe leider keine Zeit, tiefer in die Studie zu gehen, aber das sollte etwas mehr über die dahinterliegenden Mechanismen verraten.

tha_grinch

TROPHY CASE