Now Reading

^ there's no escaping the convict past in australia. the place is unfortunately still a residual penal colony, imho.

have just dipped a bespectacled toe into what a good friend recommended :

https://www.academia.edu/8370045/Psychopathologies_of_Cognitive_Capitalism_Part_1

^ finished the above. iStruggle w. academic writing, but thankfully this series is just a collection of shorter papers all based around the information economy; a bit heavy going, but worth it for the ideas imo.

A̗̝͚̤̥̦̩̯̝̟̤̥̻̬͉͉̜̟̱̿ͧ̓ͥͨͪ͐̈́ͯ͒̚̕͞A̢̟̻͔͙̞͉̯̱̝̜͙̞̠͈͎̐ͩ̈̌͌͛̆̍̒̇͑̀͠Ả̶̴̖̯̮̣̮̝̝̣͖̱̫̥̲̮̝̰͌͋̌͐̓ͤͥ͟͢A̙̞̣̔ͤ͒ͧͭͥ̾ͦ̀̀͟A̵̸̸̖̼̪̮̝͇͙̼̫̘̦̲͈̦ͪͬͫ̈́̒̏ͦͯ͘͜ͅA̶̸̢̞̖͕̣͉̭̘̦̲̤̪̦̒͂̆̓ͨͭ̽ͧ̾ͭ͛̈́͒͌̈͌ͣ̚͡Ḁ̴̛̦͍̘̰̠̙͎̠̝̬̘̭͎͑͊̔ͤͮͧ͊͐͢͞͡ͅĀ̵͇̳̟͎͖͓̼͗ͨ̆̿̽̂͊́́͞͝ͅͅͅȀ̡̢͍̼͓̺̥̱ͩ͌͊ͦ̌̎̒̋̀ͥ̓̐ͭA̷̧͚͈̦̠̝̣̮͔̟̿̾ͭ̎ͥ̀̈́̄́  /10

will read some comic books, then on to: Psychopathologies_of_Cognitive_Capitalism_Part_2

xcllnt

https://archive.org/details/KunstformenDerNaturErnstHaeckel

I'm reading The City & The City. This might actually be weirder than Embassytown. But it's way drier.

Still enjoying though!

Reading Children of Dune right now

The City & The City is dry as hell, but I love the concept of it.

Not really a spoiler, but still:

Also big into manga atm. Almost done with Fullmetal alchemist

Reading a book on Oxfordshire Folklore that has some cool stories in

  On 10/1/2019 at 1:25 PM, Soloman Tump said:

Reading a book on Oxfordshire Folklore that has some cool stories in

By Kevan Manwaring? This was a lovely charity shop find for me, but haven’t got round to reading it yet.

  On 10/1/2019 at 3:49 PM, tec said:

By Kevan Manwaring? This was a lovely charity shop find for me, but haven’t got round to reading it yet.

No not that one, although I would like to read that too.

I got this:

I'm about 35 pages into this. So far, I'm feeling that this writer is doing a great job. Granted, I'm a huge fan of all things Lou (even Lulu).

Whatever the case, he's a fascinating person. Looking forward to ripping through this one.

It's been a while since I've picked up a really good book!

After reading a small collection of stories I ordered the collected fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, which arrived today, just in time for Halloween!

This is some fantastic weird fiction. A bit like H.P Lovecraft but with a much better command of the English language. 

Of his own writing style, Clark Ashton Smith said: "My own conscious ideal has been to delude the reader into accepting an impossibility or series of impossibilities by means of a sort of verbal black magic, in the achievement of which I make use of prose-rhythm, metaphor, simile, tone colour, counter point and other stylistic resources, like a kind of incantation."

I'm reading Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. Haven't read any biography in a while, really enjoying it. The book does a good job situating Monk as a somewhat neglected originator of bebop jazz (neglected by critics and some of his peers) and an even better job dispelling the myth that he was a self-contained genius who only listened to and played jazz. His roots playing gospel music are pretty deep, for instance. He was also a first-rate prankster. This is my favorite paragraph from the book so far:

"He got a kick out of fooling people, particularly those whom he thought were too lazy or afraid to think for themselves. One of his favorite pranks was to stare intensely at a spot on the ceiling or in the sky, either in a crowded room or on a street corner. Invariably, several people would look up with him, searching for whatever elusive object apparently fascinated him. It was an experiment in mass psychology that brought him great amusement."

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - the whole 9-book series. I started at the beginning of the year, I think, and have just started book 7. 

I also recently started Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible & Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock by Chris Connelly. 

Is the Chris Connelly book any good? Given a low bar? (To give a indication how low: I actually enjoyed reading the Al Jourgensen book - in which he continuously slags of Chris Connelly btw)

  On 10/31/2019 at 8:04 PM, rhmilo said:

Is the Chris Connelly book any good? Given a low bar? (To give a indication how low: I actually enjoyed reading the Al Jourgensen book - in which he continuously slags of Chris Connelly btw)

I haven't read Al's book, and I'm only about 10 pages into this, but he's calling Al a liar from the start. It's not all negative, but the preface is like "yeah Al is full of shit. that said, here's my story..." So far it's interesting and his writing is engaging, but I don't typically have more than 1 book going at a time so I may not pick it up again till I finish the other book I mentioned. Unless I have to travel, then I'll bring this thinner book.

"Never trust a junkie"

https://archive.org/details/uptodatesandwich00full/page/n6

Currently reading both 'Dora Bruder' by Patrick Modiano (1997, 2014 nobel prize for literature award winner) and 'La Vie Extérieure' by Annie Ernaux (2000) as part of a uni French literature course.

Started reading the Thomas Ligotti anthology ''Days of a Dead Dreamer' & Grimscribe''. My kind of horror.

rereading Shakespeare's Hamlet for the umpteenth time, still stumped as ever by the end of the Player King's speech:

Our wills and fates do so contrary run,

That all our devices are overthrown,

Our thoughts are ours, but their ends none our own.

How could our thoughts be ours, but their ends not ours? Perplexing . . .

Just finished Sayaka Murata's "Convenience Store Woman". Not a great feat because it's rather short (around 140 pages in the Dutch translation) and pretty good. Think of a cross between Kafka, "Bartleby the Scrivener" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime". 

Highly recommended.

I just finished Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima.  I spent the first 340 pages waiting for it to strike any kind of interest in me, and just when I was about to give up the last 50 pages finally delivered what I was waiting for.  Pretty good book, but too political for my taste.  Hopefully Runaway Horses is more consistent.

Just downloaded this to read, a book about the books that David Bowie read, looks promising: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bowies-Bookshelf/John-OConnell/9781982112547

Started this today, very good. It's written by Francoise Gilot, one of Picasso's mistresses who he had two kids with. Very interesting insights into Picasso's art and life in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. Highly recommended for people, like myself, who do not know much about visual art.