Yes, we're still doing this tag! :)
Big yaaay because I am still on track with my one-book-per-month resolution... and I have 9 days to finish my August pick :P I still haven't "picked" anything, actually. Hehe! #umayoskajoy
Getting acquainted with a new author is exciting and scary... With the risk of sounding dramatic, somehow there's a part of me that secretly roots for the newbie (at least in my eyes) as I dive into the pages of his story because I want so bad to like and enjoy it... but at the same time, I am not as patient and forgiving because after about 10 pages, if the voice just doesn't resonate with me, I will put it down then try my luck with another book, lol!
So sipping an overpriced drink at the airport a month ago, I sat myself with a copy of Charles Yu's book, Sorry Please Thank You. By the end of his first story, I was half applauding and half surprised to find a realist in his sci-fi loving persona: My bookie self was undoubtedly impressed and excited to be drowned in his compilation of short stories days after.
Maybe it was because I was a little bit cynical to begin with because comments at the back of the book was praising Yu's skills in his sci-fi themed works, and I am not a major fan of sci-fan anything. Whoops. I am now receiving virtual dagger looks from all ye lovers of sci-fis out there. #pleasedonthuntmedown.
... But wait! Before you hate me just yet, I've come to realize that there's something so comforting and refreshing about being transported in a different place and time. What's even more refreshing is the fact that Yu never loses his humanity in all of it: emotions, desires, feelings, will and everything that make a person a being are all there -- battling and debating with what science and technology offer.
Yep, you'll find that even his stories are sometimes peppered with love (nobody ever tires of writing about it), but if you stripped down all of his characters, you'll be amazed to find yourself or someone from your circle -- so it connects and relates. It doesn't just throws you off grid (literally) and leaves you wondering, "what the hell was that all about???" There's something thought-provoking or just tickles your curiosity by the end of every story...
Anyway, enough raves about this guy, do get a copy of this book from Amazon or at local bookstores nearby :) Here's a short teaser:
Happy reading! :)
Photo Credit:
http://fontsinuse.com/uses/3870/sorry-please-thank-you-by-charles-yu
Big yaaay because I am still on track with my one-book-per-month resolution... and I have 9 days to finish my August pick :P I still haven't "picked" anything, actually. Hehe! #umayoskajoy
Getting acquainted with a new author is exciting and scary... With the risk of sounding dramatic, somehow there's a part of me that secretly roots for the newbie (at least in my eyes) as I dive into the pages of his story because I want so bad to like and enjoy it... but at the same time, I am not as patient and forgiving because after about 10 pages, if the voice just doesn't resonate with me, I will put it down then try my luck with another book, lol!
So sipping an overpriced drink at the airport a month ago, I sat myself with a copy of Charles Yu's book, Sorry Please Thank You. By the end of his first story, I was half applauding and half surprised to find a realist in his sci-fi loving persona: My bookie self was undoubtedly impressed and excited to be drowned in his compilation of short stories days after.
Maybe it was because I was a little bit cynical to begin with because comments at the back of the book was praising Yu's skills in his sci-fi themed works, and I am not a major fan of sci-fan anything. Whoops. I am now receiving virtual dagger looks from all ye lovers of sci-fis out there. #pleasedonthuntmedown.
... But wait! Before you hate me just yet, I've come to realize that there's something so comforting and refreshing about being transported in a different place and time. What's even more refreshing is the fact that Yu never loses his humanity in all of it: emotions, desires, feelings, will and everything that make a person a being are all there -- battling and debating with what science and technology offer.
Yep, you'll find that even his stories are sometimes peppered with love (nobody ever tires of writing about it), but if you stripped down all of his characters, you'll be amazed to find yourself or someone from your circle -- so it connects and relates. It doesn't just throws you off grid (literally) and leaves you wondering, "what the hell was that all about???" There's something thought-provoking or just tickles your curiosity by the end of every story...
Anyway, enough raves about this guy, do get a copy of this book from Amazon or at local bookstores nearby :) Here's a short teaser:
A big-box store employee is confronted by a zombie during the graveyard shift, a problem that pales in comparison to his inability to ask a coworker out on a date . . . A fighter leads his band of virtual warriors, thieves, and wizards across a deadly computer-generated landscape, but does he have what it takes to be a hero? . . . A company outsources grief for profit, its slogan: “Don’t feel like having a bad day? Let someone else have it for you.”
Drawing from both pop culture and science, Charles Yu is a brilliant observer of contemporary society, and in Sorry Please Thank You he fills his stories with equal parts laugh-out-loud humor and piercing insight into the human condition. He has already garnered comparisons to such masters as Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams, and in this new collection we have resounding proof that he has arrived (via a wormhole in space-time) as a major new voice in American fiction.
Happy reading! :)
Photo Credit:
http://fontsinuse.com/uses/3870/sorry-please-thank-you-by-charles-yu
I felt the same way when I read it! I am not a sci-fi fan, either, but Charles Yu's stories and distinct way of writing got me hooked from the first page. I wish I could write like he does! I am now officially a new fan. :)
ReplyDeleteTrue! Thanks for lending me this! :)
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