Reading Books in 2021

Possibly only a bit less glum :grimacing:

1 Like

Iā€™m enjoying this although itā€™s a bit too ā€œfacts presented without commentā€, at least in chapter 1 (all Iā€™ve read).

Maddening that all this incredible sounding film scores get mentioned but you can barely find anything online to hear. And even when you look up the film itā€™s such a random upload you canā€™t be sure itā€™s that guyā€™s score.

Also the random deadnaming of Wendy Carlos for The Shining was a shock but I guess even as recently as 2008 she was probably miscredited (or else heā€™s going off old books).

Clock with hands was excellent

Mccullers has a particular brand of that Southern gothic melodrama thatā€™s laced with melancholy. The story is about a bigoted judge in the South whose ideas are challenged by his liberal grandson and his black house boy. If that sounds a little tacky/cliched, then McCullers skill and tact as a writer more than make up for it. Every character has their own wounds and backstory, and McCullers displays a knack for getting to the heart and soul of them. As an examination of racial tensions and intolerance in 20th century America itā€™s up there with the likes of To kill a Mockingbirdā€¦not sure why it has been so forgotten.

also just about to finish the Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima

this is the third part in his tetralogy that he completed just before his death

this has been the least enjoyable and most challenging so far. it continues following the exploits of Honda, the reserved lawyer as he wanders through the upper echelons of Japanese society. there is a lot of religious symbolism and discussion of spiritualityā€¦the idea of karma and reincarnation. this is quite important when you consider Mishimaā€™s death- he committed seppuku and I believe this idea of an afterlife was something that was running through his mind at the time. unfortunately this part of the story lacks the same vitality/drama as previous parts, and I wonder if Honda was the most interesting character to follow through the series.

I finished Tender Is The Flesh - it was both awful and amazing in equal measure. Pretty pretty pretty bleak and it will probably put you off beefburgers for a while.

Started The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty last night. Itā€™s reminded me of the bits I didnā€™t love about The Sellout so far but Iā€™m only 20 pages in.

wow, you arenā€™t wrong! this is the entirety of the wiki article about it

Clock Without Hands is American author Carson McCullersā€™ final novel. It was published on September 18, 1961 by Houghton Mifflin.

The book received primarily positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews stated that the novel ā€œembellishes an already fine literary reputation though it lacks the sting of [McCullersā€™] previous workā€[1] while The Atlantic called the book ā€œthe masterly new novel by Carson McCullers.ā€[2]

perhaps itā€™s because people get the title wrong!

yeah itā€™s very strangeā€¦donā€™t think itā€™s far from the standard of the Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Saga is so good. Having to ration it as I donā€™t want it to be over.

2 Likes

I read Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 today and it was really interesting and oppressive (in a good way)

Got 3 short books out the library so gonna have to get my read on with the other two arenā€™t I

I was going to buy the big complete volume for the first half but not got around to it, because reading it in small chunks was making it hard to remember what happened before.

Iā€™m a bit concerned theyā€™re still on hiatus though, given itā€™ll take (presumably) another 6 years to finish it when they come back.

Did you read Paper Girls? Very good, if short.

Thought theyā€™d announced it was back this year, but a cursory search suggests ā€œsoonā€

Tbh of what weā€™ve had so far, I really really loved the first books but felt the back end got a bit repetitive and subject to diminishing returns, so hopefully the break has reinvigorated them. If they can consistently reach the level of the first four or five books for the rest of it, itā€™ll be an all timer.

1 Like

girl, woman, other is dead good

5 Likes

On my t-r list, Iā€™m hoping I can borrow it from a library or a friend. Canā€™t afford to buy every series I want to read, unfortunately!

1 Like

My friend gave me Volume 1 as a present and I then bought Compendium second hand, it was worth it as I have several people in mind to lend it to and I havenā€™t finished it yet but Iā€™m already sure Iā€™ll re-read it.

1 Like

No, fair enough! Hopefully youā€™ll find them.

1 Like

Iā€™ll buy the Saga compendium on Comixology most likely as one of the reasons I bought the Surface Pro was to be able to have the option to read digital comics ā€˜full sizeā€™ and itā€™s just a big thing to find a place for otherwise.

1 Like

Good plan! I hope you enjoy it :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Also, finally got around to starting The Lathe of Heaven last night and am already halfway through. Canā€™t wait to get home from work later and continue with it.

Cheers. Looking at my purchase history, I borrowed volumes 1-5 off my mate and then started trying to buy it monthly from Image but got waylaid at issue 35 when (as I say) I realised not having my own copies to hand to refer back to was making keeping up very hard. :smiley:

will be interested when you finish it, a few chapters really didnā€™t work for me on their own merits most of the ones about younger people, but they still fit pretty well into the overarching story

Borne and Southern Reach were great. Iā€™ve just finished Dead Astronauts which is set in the same world as Borne - I think Vandermeer was trying to fully embrace his surreal side with it and I found myself struggling to pull together threads at the end (although I liked it)

Would be curious to get your thoughts if youā€™ve read it?