oat

joined 2 days ago
[–] oat@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 hours ago

Thanks I’ll look through it

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 7 points 7 hours ago

2049 was great - hope this continues the trend.

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

I think that has been the problem in the past. Worried about losing strength so jumping back in before I'm ready and re-injuring - rinse and repeat.

I like the tempo work idea, increase intensity without increasing absolute weight/strain. I am doing Romanians and am also focusing on unilateral work with Bulgarians/lunges to try and improve stability.

 

I've been sidelined for several weeks with back pain, first day testing the waters squatting again. Feels good!

This isn't my first time with back issues so goal is to focus on volume rather than max weight for awhile to reduce risk of aggravating whatevers going on.

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Have you read Anathem by Neal Stephenson? It’s got great world building and is pretty weird sci-fi but definitely not “horror” in any sense of the word so may not be exactly what you’re looking for. Fun read though.

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 2 points 16 hours ago

Hated hated hated this book. Not to discourage others from reading it, just seconding the sentiment that it's a book few people finish.

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 1 points 20 hours ago

Suttree strikes me as being similarly world weary as Maqroll but McCarthy's characterization is much richer than Mutis's and I enjoyed the book more than I'm enjoying Maqroll.

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You know - I read the comparisons to Don Quixote before I picked up this book and I REALLY disliked Don Quixote. I did finish part 1 but could not bring myself to start part 2 - not sure if that counts as DNF or not.

In answer to your question, I'm not sure I see strong parallels between Maqroll and Don Quixote, the tone in Don Quixote was much less disenchanted/jaded and more... well, quixotic. I don't think Maqroll as character has the same "humorous" (I didn't find it funny) self-delusion that people appreciate in Don Quixote, Maqroll is a realist his adventures just aren't very believable and I don't think the writing/atmosphere outweighs the trudging plot. I think my main objection to Maqroll (hearkening back to the Dr. Evil reference) is that it comes across to me as if it was written by a person who isn't very worldy but uses obscure/exotic settings to seem like they are. Which is strange because by all accounts Mutis was actually quite well traveled. I guess in my opinion where Melville succeeds in building credibility by delving into the minutia of cetology Mutis fails in establishing his worldliness with his plot/settings (in my opinion of course).

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Struggling through the Adventures and Misdaventures of Maqroll - what a drag, feel like I'm reading the same episode over and over again.

 

I was recommended this book on another website and reviews seemed overwhelmingly positive so I picked it up. I was looking for some other latam lit after reading 100 Years Of Solitude (great) Love in the Time of Cholera (good) and 2666 (great) and had high hopes.

I'm now done with 3/4 and boy is it a stinker, I really push myself to finish books no matter what but this is an absolute slog. Every story feels like Dr. Evil's description of his childhood (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTJj4wbmAhk). Protagonist goes to some far away location and gets involved in some niche scheme (which seem interchangeable with one another) where he meets a beautiful woman who has lots of sex with him. Then she dies and he escapes. Rinse and repeat. The author seems to name drop for the sake of it. Anyone else read and enjoy this one?

[–] oat@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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