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Miéville writes a mini-masterpiece that is densely packed with thrills and art history. The book‘s description doesn‘t mislead as much as it can‘t encompass the dream-like read that, if you want to enjoy this book, you as a reader need to give yourself over to. I find this with many of his books, that once you‘ve crossed into a Miéville world you‘re pretty much a goner; soaking in whatever strange essence he has concocted.

Really, how does he do that? Where does this man get his ideas from? Each of his books is so different from the others, linked only through the crazy ideas of China Mieville. One has to like those weird worlds, where nothing is the way it seems, and the way we're used to. We have to adapt, just as the characters do. Mieville is extraordinary, out of this world, truly fantastic. And I just can't get enough of him.

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo

Here's my #BookSpinBingo board for October. I could already check off one, even though it wasn't planned (seriously, the book just ended - I didn't ask it to!). Since I'm almost done with all my challenges and working more hours, my reading list is getting shorter. I'm still hoping for a Bingo, though.

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpin #DoubleSpin

My reading plans for October. Yes, my piles are getting shorter. I enjoy the extra time, the mood reading, and the lower stress level.

Read 25 books in September, more than expected, tbh. 3 were audio books, and 8 off my TBR.

Well, I'm just posting this now as it is. I don't know what other might or might not come my way. I'm not sure if I can continue taking part in the #Bookspinbingo ... My lists keep getting shorter, since I actually enjoy reading less and having more time for each single book. Let's see what the next months will bring. In January I'm sure to be packed with challenges again 😅

#Bookspin #Doublespin
@TheAromaOfBooks

At 60% into the book, still completely confused. This is supposed to be about surrealist art coming to life so maybe I am not the target audience for this.

Retired baffled after 30 pages

I didn‘t read this , but my husband who never reads novels , read this novella. He says it‘s the hardest book of all time to talk about .. surrealist, mad , crazy , hallucinagenic. Images from surrealist art become real , are manifested & stalk the streets of new Paris. I don‘t think it‘s my cup of tea , but I‘m posting it because he really loved it & couldn‘t put it down, so I felt it was worth sharing. It‘s doing well on Litsy reviews too

"Can living artwork die? Can it live, before it does?"

"Fold over paper,� Sam whispers. "Fold it over and what might come out?"

"Should we go? Stay? If you can stay, stay...�
Thibaut was shaking again and not from cold.
"We remain."

This intriguing story takes place in an alternate Paris where a surrealist resistance uses artwork made manifest in its battle against the occupying Nazi troops. This is a trippy and wildly inventive tale, suffused with nostalgia for a lost world during a time of despair. I loved the dreamlike logic and vivid imagery, and the idea of creativity as a force, as powerful as magic.

I loved The City & The City and Embassytown, but hit the wall with Perdido Street Station. So I‘m switching gears.

1. (The) Master and Margarita
2. Sarah Moss, China Miéville
3. Mostly Martha
4. Mushrooms
#manicmonday #letterm @JoScho

Ugh. I stopped at 2/3 through this.

I usually love the richness of Mieville‘s imagination & I loved studying the Surrealists so I had high hopes, but everything about this disappointed me. Flat characters I didn‘t care about who somehow fought Nazis & demons in tedious ways.

I quit because reading it began to feel like a task both arduous & boring. 😭

I love the world and the premise!

(But, um, wow are the characters undeveloped. I‘m still all in but that part could be better.)

Manifestations of surrealist art battle Nazi summoned demons in an alternate reality Paris. Now I want to know more about surrealism. And I badly want a film adaptation. Has to be by Terry Gilliam, I think. Meanwhile I'll just google every artwork mentioned in the notes. Holy cow! The visuals in this book!

7 days 7 covers. Post a book cover you love. No explanation, no information on the book. Just a cover you love.

Amazing, magical, and surreal! Surrealist artists go to war against the Nazis in occupied Paris...Art as a weapon against Hitler and demons, and a spy from Hell to boot. Sheer poetry in motion. And exquisite corpses as well!

What an odd little book. Art comes to life, Nazis, and demons. I'm not entirely sure what happened, which is a fairly common experience when I read something by China Miéville. However, it was well written, and despite not fully knowing what was going on, I enjoyed the journey. â­�ï¸�â­�ï¸�â­�ï¸�.5

😂. This book is strange, but in a good way. Art that attacks, demons, and Nazis. Sure, why not!

It took me a while to get my head into gear, but it was worth it. China Mieville has crafted a wonderful book here, with a very interesting view on art and culture in society. There are some great images which will stay with me. I like that he has kept it short and relatively simple; I can imagine there was a temptation to really live in New Paris for a while and write something larger and more labyrinthine.

Whoa, it has been a heck of a good week! Okay so there's a one-star and a three-star in there but this is definitely the first time I've had five 5-star books in one week! �����

Its 1950 and the ruined streets of Nazi-occupied "New Paris" are stalked be hell-demons & corporeal manifestations of surreal art. The Free French resistance is joined (and opposed) by cells of radical Surrealists and the Nazis are trying to weaponise the new bizarre forces. This is the weirdest alternative history you'll ever read and it may be my favourite China Miéville yet. I recommend reading alongside http://ow.ly/yLVt309lNhZ #TacklingTheTBR

There is a reason Mieville's genre is described as "New Weird." He takes an already disintegrating world -- German-occupied Paris -- and gives it more sides than a Surrealist die. The occult meets war meets art meets hell meets the French resistance. Slip into this world a while, and I doubt you'll regret it.

Surrealism rising up against fascist invaders. Appropriate for the current state of the world. Something I never thought I'd say about Miéville...

The setting was a little hard to understand at first, but this was a quick read once I got it. Set in an alternate history of Paris in 1950, the city is still besieged, but not just by Nazis. An incident in 1941 unleashed life and blood manifestations of surrealist art and poetry. Nazi occultists have also unleashed demons from Hell. If you can just roll with that, then everything makes sense. I liked the writing in this weird, fantastic story.

Starting this one next. I've heard good things about his books but have never read any myself. I thought this novella might be a good place to start.

#lazyweekendmornings #booksandbooze and #somanycreatures !

I lost the thread and have no idea what the hell is happening! The narrator's tone is too flat or something but there isn't enough variety in his performances so I think I blanked it out. I kept with it, hoping to pick it back up. Nope. I might revisit this in print format since there are some very interesting elements here. So it's a bail on the version, not the story.

I have never read any of China Mieville's work, but have heard good things. The audiobook was available so we will try it and see how it goes. I'm sometimes wary of trying a new author on audio in case the work isn't performed in the best way or a way I connect with. Audio tends to be a little tricky for me sometimes. Does anyone else have that concern?

Very weird (naturally). Felt like an art history course from a professor lit on absinthe. If you read it, don't forget the afterword. It's not part of the main narrative but adds to it well.

Thank goodness. My brain almost felt normal for a few seconds, there.

Miéville has this knack for dropping the reader into a world and keeping the world-building in the context and background. You pick up the history and vernacular of the story as you go. It can make his novels a little tough to invest yourself in at first, but it's always worth the effort.
This alternate WWII history is no different, except maybe for the index at the back where he explains the real life works of art he incorporated into the story.

Just got this in on hold. Looking forward to a shorter read. Has anyone read this?

"Last Days of New Paris" is set in Nazi occupied Paris. A bomb containing the energy of Surrealist artists (poets, painters, theorists etc.) detonates. This creates an army of living, powerful art works that aid the Surrealist fighters against the Nazis. Mieville's book is thoroughly researched and he threads Surrealist theory & the violence of war together effortlessly. It pays to know Surrealist art while reading, but it's not necessary.

The manif ends another attack with a Surrealist assassination: the man at whom it stares sits suddenly down, undoes his buttons, looks into his body, now a cage filled with angry crows, and is still.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this book. The surrealist concepts were interesting and I liked them a lot but I'm just not sure the story really reached a satisfying conclusion.

I do have an amateurish interest in surrealist art and so many of the "manifs" were familiar to me but I just don't feel like I got the payoff I was expecting.

It's certainly not a bad book, but I'm not sure I can say it's a good one either.

I don't have the brain to try and figure out the surrealism and what it all means right now - and quite possibly ever. Not the book for this chica.

Moving on to the next library book. Work is soooo slow. Luckily, my boss lets me read when it's this slow. #mybossisawesome

Some books should come with warning labels, & operating instructions. Things I wish I'd known: there is an afterword which explains the why & the how. The Notes explain the strange word salad that fills the pages, should you be unfamiliar w/the history of the surrealist movement.

I ��the novelty of the worlds Mieville brings to life, which is why I persevered through sentences with awkward punctuation and unclear meaning. The struggle was real.

The beginning of every new China Mieville book is arduous. The reader has to learn a new language, decipher the author's unusual cadence and complex sentence structure. Where are we? What sort of landscape do these characters inhabit? What are the laws of physics governing this world? Thirty pages in, I'm still struggling to dim my footing in the streets of new paris.

Where to start with this one? It felt like William S Burroughs and David Lynch decided to make a war film. I really liked it but I am sure I would have gotten more out of it if i had a better appreciation for surrealism. That being said, I did enjoy this book. It felt like reading a dream.

This is a short book, so I thought I'd power through, but I'm halfway and I have no idea what's going on. The premise sounded super cool, but it's just not for me.

Can't help but think someone is trying to make Miéville's surrealist urban fantasy novel look or sound literary rather than fantasy.