do wish that Mother of Invention was subtler and less overtly agendaed. might have got the message across better.I meant to read some of the source books from the bibliography to see if they were better argued.
― Stevolende, Monday, 2 January 2023 19:57 (one year ago) link
As usual this year I failed to develop any disciplined reading patterns and spent too much time dissociating on the internet. But I did manage to read:
Osman, The Man Who Died TwiceRiley, Cold WaterFranzen, CrossroadsStafford, Counselling Skills in ActionBaddiel, Jews Don’t CountLe Guin, The Farthest ShorePratchett, Reaper ManSalinger, Franny and ZooeyHiggins, Kennedy for the DefenseMcIntyre, The Entropy EffectRiley, My PhantomsAmis, The Green ManFitzgerald, Men’s of EscapePratchett, Wyrd SistersLe Guin, TehanuBlock, 8 Million Ways To DieAtkinson, Case HistoriesAtkinson, One Good TurnTolkien, Fellowship of yadda yaddaChristie, After the FuneralHarris, A Season in ExileRosen, How to make children laughHammett, The Thin Man (unfinished due to boredom)Rimmer, Like Punk Never HappenedRaskin, The Westing Game
Unsentimental best: My PhantomsSentimental best: TehanuHad a chapter that caused me to cry more than any other book I’ve read: Case Histories
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 3 January 2023 00:31 (one year ago) link
nonfiction:Slavoj Zizek - Living in the End TimesJerome Carcopino - Daily Life in Ancient RomeAnne Hyde - Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed Descent Peoples and the Making of the American WestTerry Teachout - Pops: A Life of Louis ArmstrongSimon Winder - Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their HistoryJ. Storrs Hall - Where Is My Flying Car?Arthur Schopenhauer - The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
fiction:Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?Ursula Le Guin - Left Hand of DarknessJames M. Cain - The Postman Always Rings TwiceJames M. Cain - Double IndemnityJoshua Cohen - The NetanyahusKarl Ove Knausgaard - My Struggle: Volume 4Elif Batuman - The IdiotPatrick Modiano - Paris NocturneJohn Darnielle - Universal HarvesterRainer Maria Rilke - The Notebooks of Malte Laurids BriggeJohn Wyndham - The Outward UrgeValeria Luiselli - Lost Children ArchiveLeonardo Sciascia - To Each His OwnErnest Hemingway - A Farewell to ArmsSam Selvon - The Housing LarkPatricia Highsmith - The BlundererMachado de Assis - The Alienist and Other Stories of 19th Century Brazil
poetry:Jimmy Santiago Baca - Martin & Meditations on the South ValleyPhilip Levine - The Simple TruthRobinson Jeffers - TamarDante - Inferno (trans. Robert Pinsky)
― o. nate, Thursday, 5 January 2023 03:51 (one year ago) link
Machado de Assis - The Alienist and Other Stories of 19th Century Brazil
― dow, Thursday, 5 January 2023 04:18 (one year ago) link
I liked it. I would like to read more by him. I added his novel "The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas" to my wish list after finishing this one. The longest story "The Alienist" may have been one of the weaker ones, IMO. Or at least it seems to be the one that feels the most dated. It's a satire of the scientific pretensions of psychiatry in its early days, which from a contemporary perspective seems a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. It was probably more stinging at the time. The other shorter pieces were interesting, well-observed tales of society and psychology with a gentle satirical edge.
― o. nate, Thursday, 5 January 2023 14:26 (one year ago) link
My resolution to not buy any more books lasted about 3 days. Just 'popped into' my local Oxfam book store and left with a bag-full: a couple of Antonia Whites, Antony Sher's Year of the King, Beryl Gilroy's Black Teacher, Marshall Berman's All That's Solid, Rose Macaulay's World is my Wilderness and, uh, the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 7 January 2023 17:18 (one year ago) link
Going into Oxfam after new year's is probably the last thing I'd do if I wanted to stop buying books.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 7 January 2023 20:38 (one year ago) link
Resistance is futile.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:05 (one year ago) link
yeah was running through my head to slow down buying books.But somehow wound up making the usual rounds. Did get some interesting stuff though
― Stevolende, Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
The Humble Bundle deals are death for me.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:14 (one year ago) link
Marshall Berman's All That's Solid
― dow, Sunday, 8 January 2023 00:13 (one year ago) link
I've never read it. Even when I was doing my lit degree I managed to avoid it, somehow. Glad to finally have it.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 8 January 2023 11:11 (one year ago) link
Amazing book.
― Farewell to Evening in Paradise (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 January 2023 16:08 (one year ago) link