Autumn 2020: Is Everything Getting Dimmer or Is It Just Me?

I totally respect that tbh. I'm glad I went through with it in the end but part of that 'gladness' is just commitment to a sunk cost fallacy.

Should I bother with Seven Gothic Tales? The prose seems a bit much.

I read Dinesen when I was writing my thesis on Borges 17 lifetimes ago. I can't remember very much about it all except, as you say, that the prose was a bit much (I can do purple, I can do thickety but I don't know, it was a slog).

I find it increasingly difficult to read at home and always feel I should be doing something else. So, I only read in bed, usually non-fiction, particularly in term time.

She reminds me of the worst of Broch.

I think it's deliberately mannered? Not that that makes it any easier.

I read anecdotes of destiny, the one with “babette’s feast”, within the last few years & really enjoyed the style tho not many details have stuck

My reading habits aren't very fixed, but during quarantine I've often been reading philosophy during working hours on days when I have no work to do (philosophy feels like labour and so I feel less like I'm idling). Fantasy or sci-fi in the evening.

xps I wouldn’t like to be at all programmatic with my reading and I don’t have to so i don’t, I just read according to my whims and habits

I read on the bus to work, in the café at the weekend and increasingly during the evenings at home with music on since I never seem to feel like watching anything these days. Also I’d stopped reading in the break room at work cause I didn’t want to seem antisocial but am more willing to do it now that social distancing is mandatory, it feels like less of a faux pas when you have to sit at the other end of a long table.

I’m a terrible one for having a load of books on the go - usually for the sake of convenience, like I’ll start reading something on my tablet cause I forgot to put the book I’ve been reading in my bag, plus I’ll have a hardback book I only read in the evenings cause it’s literally impossible to carry around, and then I might also have an audiobook on the go, and a library hold becomes available so I start that... I have started reading a new book because the one I’m on is in a different part of the room and I can’t be arsed to go get it so pick up a closer one

Sorta relatedly, I just bought a fairly basic book stand thing in the hope of easing my neck problems and it is SO GOOD I’m honestly kind of annoyed I’ve gone 35 years without getting one of these, so I’m going to be reading a whole load of big hardbacks now just for the sheer novelty of it not feeling like torture lol. Currently making my way through Cynthia Ozick letters of intent, a 600pp career-spanning (and disappointingly typo-riddled) collection of her essays.

hard yes on Seven Gothic Tales, I reread it recently and it holds up beautifully

it helps to keep in mind that Blixen is a Dane writing English (very well indeed, but not exactly as a native speaker would) and also that almost all the stories are set in the early 19th century; both their style and subjects are of that period, but her irony lifts them above pastiche

Pretty good for a Baroness Karen

Map, you might enjoy Karen Russell and Kelly Link's 21st Century speculative fiction, for lack of a better term, their short stories are imaginative and a lot of fun. Also, Russell is an empath; Link is punk. Maybe start w KR's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, KL's Get In Trouble Karen Joy Fowler started with science fiction per se, with stories in Asimov's, novels harder to classify. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves has grown offspring dealing with wtf & aftermath of Primatologist Dad's bringing a new little sister home from the lab---there have been nonfictional accounts of this kind of experiment accumulating over the years, as one of the main characters discovers.

― dow, Friday, October 16, 2020 3:39 AM (seventeen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks for these, will investigate

Bunnicula is great and also makes an easy Halloween costume; bunny ears, fangs and some white vegetables and you're good to go.

Deflatormouse, have you read The Mouse and His Child?

From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Franweiler is my 2nd fave so far.

this book is wonderful. even being forced to read it in fifth grade and take a quiz after literally every chapter couldn't ruin it for me.

love the mouse and his child (and the frances books) but haven't yet gotten around to any of hoban's later books.

My brother and I got obsessed w/Hoban's books and read our way through most of them a few years ago. They're a mixed bag, but I think Riddley Walker and Turtle Diary are great. I also liked Pilgerman, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz, The Medusa Frequency, and Kleinzeit, but how much you like those depends on how much tolerance you have for Hoban's particular brand of obsessive weirdness. (He's a bit like Philip K. Dick in that he has a few preoccupations that he returns to again and again, but instead of everything being about God, drugs and pottery, there's a recurring thing about the head of Orpheus, and another one about a Kraken, and a few others that are equally strange.)

Bunnicula is great and also makes an easy Halloween costume; bunny ears, fangs and some white vegetables and you're good to go.

― Lily Dale, Friday, October 16, 2020 5:40 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

omg LOVE IT!!! <3

I found a play version of this which calls for Harold and Chester to be played by actors in plain clothes, with only the occasional reminders in the dialog that they're animals which I think is so great, really spot on- they are effectively human characters. And Bunnicula is a stuffed toy.

I haven't read much of Hoban's kid lit. Riddley Walker was given to me by this girl in high school who I had a little platonic crush on. I'd mentioned to her that I was looking for stuff with unusual language, so she loaned me her favorite book. But I really struggled to make headway, I was embarrassed for her to know how long it was taking me so I returned it to her, fibbed about my progress and got my own copy. She was a couple of years older, kind of aloof and wrote such brilliant stuff. I was a little intimidated. So she says, "wow you finished it already?? it took me six months!!"

Around that same time I was over at a friend's house and happened to notice Hoban's name on a couple of his old kids' books, I think I found them kinda disappointing. Am I missing out?

Mixed up Files is wonderful, yeah. The children are a bit like Bunnicula's animals in that they don't seem to realize they're children. They have very adult personalities.

Also, Russell is an empath

What does this mean (this is not a trolling question, it's just I have only ever heard that term used, in SF books, as being likje a telepath but with emotions)?

I finished Pale Horse, Pale Rider last night. All three of the stories were fine pieces of work, but the final one from which the book takes its title was pretty goddamned amazing!

James, as my wife uses the term empath, it seems to apply to people whose empathy for the feelings of others rises to a level where it consistently interferes with their ability to stay grounded in their own feelings and not become overloaded with trying to soothe everyone else's fears, anxieties, griefs or worries. They have a hard time understanding and maintaining personal boundaries.

G.K. Chesterton - The Best of Father Brown
Adelbert Von Chamisso - Peter Schlemihl

Following on from Borges earlier in the month I went onto read these sets of fantastical-type tales. Think I'll get another selection of Father Borwn, lots I quite liked even if I couldn't keep the stories going in my head. Detective Fiction is just a very different mode for me.

I finished Pale Horse, Pale Rider last night. All three of the stories were fine pieces of work, but the final one from which the book takes its title was pretty goddamned amazing!

James, as my wife uses the term empath, it seems to apply to people whose empathy for the feelings of others rises to a level where it consistently interferes with their ability to stay grounded in their own feelings and not become overloaded with trying to soothe everyone else's fears, anxieties, griefs or worries. They have a hard time understanding and maintaining personal boundaries.

― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless),

She's fantastic, Porter is. I reread the title story at the start of the pandemic. Her Collected Stories is one of my touchstones.t

Ah, thanks, aimless, that makes sense.

Began The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins last night. Back on my non-fiction as a result-- engaging writing about a geopolitical moment of which I only know the basics.

I finished TE's essay on Cork and went on to his essay 'Home & Away'.

The level of obscure reading and learning in these two essays is staggering.

I meant it pretty close to the SF sense that James first mentioned: her narration tends to omniscience, but in a goood way--come along if you can, and you probably can (emotions don't interfere with narrative drive through layers of clarity, not in any stories I've read)(haven't checked the novel).

And speaking of clarity, Aimless, I meant "punk" in the attitudinal sense associated with a tag first applied, often as a compliment, by rock music writers to certain acts, especially bands, or groups, in the 1970s. Not in the older sense(s), such as most if not all definitions of "gunsel."

Sorry, too much coffee this morning, too much time with words this weekend (lost in productivity, now there's a word).

As of last night I am officially reading one of Dawn Powell's earliest novels, Dance Night, published in 1930. It has introduced so many different characters in the first few dozen pages that it seems destined to be a 'portrait of a small town' novel, rather than tracking a couple of main characters through their personal trials.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as I can actively keep all the names attached to the correct storylines in my memory. If I let several nights elapse between readings that can become unduly burdensome.

Phil Dellio, You Should've Heard Just What I Seen
L.C. Rosen, Camp
Sasha Geffen, Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary

i started the alex ross wagner book yesterday, had a discussion about it with my boyfriend last night that has sapped my enthusiasm about the subject and now i don't feel like going back to it. part of the issue is that while ross picks out details that feel immediate / relevant to now, i find the survey approach to be a little bland and the bits of his own thesis that have emerged so far are too general to be of interest to me. plus wagner himself does seem like a particularly vile and unlikable person with a bloated ego. on the other hand that can make for juicy reading...

i remembered a book that my ex had, the front runner, a big hit in the 70s about a track coach (ex marine naturally) and his love affair with one of his student athletes. not on kindle, unfortunately. said ex had this carefully curated collection of "power gay" books that he never read. i wouldn't mind breezing through something pulpy in that vein.

Is Alex Ross Wagner different from Alex Ross? Or a half brother fathered by RJ Wagner when he wasn't with Natalie Wood.

both are true, if you would like them to be. namaeste

Ann Quin - The Unmapped Country (Stories & Fragments)

Ripped through this in a day. A collection of never finished (she died by drowning), or stories that were in archives (sometimes personal ones, so its a great piece of labour by editor Jennfer Hodgson to track this stuff down). The title piece was shaping up to be an excellent novel set in a mental institution, with some juicy sketches with the therapist, fellow inmates and the like. Motherlogue is just as the title implies, and the other great piece is Nude and Seascape, which is a little bit like Mishima's Patriotism. This violent act which is carried out, a simple description of its physicality and sorta left there for you to go over. Its probably worth it for that piece alone.

Because I'm overdue for a Trollope novel, I started Barchester Towers yesterday. I usually read one of his every 15 months.

Absolutely loving "Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor" - it's exactly what I was looking for, which is a continuation of Love Goes to Buildings On Fire with a focus on rap, graffiti, art, etc.

xp I love Trollope, as you can probably tell from my username. Barchester Towers is probably the Barsetshire book I've spent the least amount of time with, but I love that whole series so much.

The Palliser series, which I finished over a couple years, brought great pleasure during Obama's presidency.

PBKR, if you didn't see my exclamations about that book and related on prev. WAYR?, there's a listening companion of the same title, released last year, put together by TL, who also therein comments on the tracks re New York Dance Floor historical context. Good related reading and listening can be found in the slipcase of The World of Keith Haring, also 2019, and released by Soul Jazz Records in time for a UK Haring exhibit.

You can also listen to (and order) the author's whole comp here, but his booklet isn't posted, oh well: https://reappearingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/life-death-on-a-new-york-dance-floor-1980-1983

Yes, thank you, I did on the Keith Haring thread where, I think, you and table is the table mentioned this book which is why I bought it. I've been listening to a playlist that has many of those tracks and more.

I read that book right after the Ghost Ship fire where I lost a bunch of people. It was a harrowing yet beautiful read for me, felt like therapy.

I know it delves into the early aids epidemic so I imagine things will get tough.

Have temporarily shelved Children of Men because I’m not reading that much atm and when I’m reading, it’s mostly the Invisibles ( see the comics board). It being October, I dipped into The Stepford Wives again and it’s so great, still! Moves along without a pause for breath or an inch of waste. I think I prefer the film’s ending for sheer creepy, but that’s my only criticism.

Last night at last I finished Terry Eagleton's long essay 'Home & Away', on the Irish novel.

I think this means that after many years, I have read the whole of his dense, detailed book CRAZY JOHN & THE BISHOP (1998).

I can no longer really remember whether I finished the long title essay, which is about Medieval theology. I think I did - long ago.

This is a remarkable book, so unlike much of TE's work in its extraordinary attention to obscure literary and scholarly details that most people don't know.

I have moved on to reread Elizabeth Bowen: THE LAST SEPTEMBER (1929).

jeez, I still need to get to her novels; The Collected Stories is catnip doorstop.

70pp into rereading THE LAST SEPTEMBER, I observe (perhaps again):

1: quality of the style - often surprising, estranging, perverse.

2: how pervasive the politics are - the sense of Ireland as an increasingly dangerous place is constant. Maybe it's 'background' yet so insistent as almost to be foreground.

3: the tartness of the social comedy - the way that, say, Livvy's sentiment about soldier beaux is disdained by Lois. Bowen doesn't really hold back on this. As with the politics, she goes for it more fully than I might have recalled.

The book maybe involves a certain structural irony, ie: 'silly comedy of country house manners' (unsure who would be the exemplar of this) is played out yet surrounded, threatened, undermined by really serious geopolitical / colonial struggle.

Saying that, though, I'm also mindful that a great many comedies of manners probably have something similar going on, ie: a sense of turbulent politics going on just beyond the walls, that relativise their perhaps trivial personal concerns. And eg: Virginia Woolf indulges in such upper-class silliness while also disdaining and satirising it. This combination of tones, from the comedy of manners to things that lie beyond its ken, seems the primary way that Bowen follows Woolf.

Several striking stories in and involving Ireland, especially the more priveleged Anglo-Irish ways of life(have read that one reason for so much writing, and some public speaking, I think, was for retention and upkeep of the ancestral property that she sprung from).
One involves a son of the lace curtain soil back for a visit from WWII London, the connection with which complicates how he now sees and is seen by these lofty social inverts even more; also there's now a girl, whom I think he only recalls as a small child, who wants to get out of this place, and he's wary as ever, kind of sympathetic in principle, but she seems like she might be as manipulative in her own way as the older people.
Another one is a kind of ghost story, seems like, in a vanishing way:I read it several times in a row, was more satisfied than frustrated by indeterminacy/indecision.
Think a lot of times, maybe always, she delves into "omniscient" narration as something that changes and is changed by and how and what and whom it regards.

privileged, sorry (also privillaged, in her A-I settings).

'by it regards"? Well yeah, changing.

i finished sisters by daisy johnson. a bit like early (good imo!) mcewan.

song of achilles by madeline miller. a modern prose novelization of the odyssey, which i read in an attempt to fill in the huge gap in my knowledge of the classics. very readable, certainly a ripping yarn, and now i know what people are talking about. if anyone can suggest anything else like this (prose, not poetry) then please do!

lanny by max porter. excellent. nominally literary horror i guess, but i read it for the Real England content.

having and being had by eula biss. i LOVED on immunity, and i smashed that hold button on the library website when i heard that the new one was about capitalism. but it's extremely slight, and really leans into the auto-non-fiction thing that on immunity hinted at, i.e. too many quotes and not enough interconnecting tissue.

i have now read (mostly listened to) 73 books this year.

Song of Achilles has got me excited to read more Greek myth based stuff. And there seems to be quite a bit about, mostly written by women, of the myths from a female perspective.

Penelopiad by m attwood
A thousand ships by Natalie Haynes
The silence of the girls by pat Barker
Circe by mm again
(There's a whole series of modernised YA retellings of the Odyssey by some bloke I can't remember the name of. Percy?)
And Stephen Fry's just-out third book of myths focuses on the Illiad.

Those are all Homeric stuff, and Natalie has also written the children of Jocasta which touches on Oedipus.