Now Reading

Just finished Salman Rushdie’s latest, Victory City. It’s fun. You should read it.

just finished, totally loved it.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/10/25/lewis-thomas-the-medusa-and-the-snail-self/

  On 6/15/2023 at 12:02 AM, DyeMyBlueBlack said:

I’m gonna read Blood Meridian again now that McCarthy passed away. Thoughts from y’all?

There are so many reasons why I think it's fantastic. It's not an easy read but incredibly rewarding once you start to look into the fathoms below the apparent violent Western story.

First of all I just adore the writing style. It's mostly naked, straightforward and somewhat Hemingway-style simple, then you get these very elaborate scenery descriptions, and terrific eloquent dialogue. It takes some getting used to, but McCarthy's style and choice of words are what brings the world to life. 

There's a strong historical accuracy with practically the whole journey being mapped beforehand according to the historical counterparts.

As for the meaning itself it's no use talking here for people who haven't read it, but I believe it's a powerful mix of a few universal themes, and a take on those that gives you a choice. It's very dark and gloomy at first glance but I believe it's way more than just the surface stuff. I'm not just talking about the interpretations of the villain who's always the popular point of discussion, but the symbolism of the other aspects of the story as well. 

The writing plays with you as well, certain things in a situation are deliberately not spelled out directly which, if you pay close attention, can make you question the actual role and actions of a character. This is genius writing, and to me it's the main reason why it's unfilmable because I would not want to lose that ambiguity. 

The ending is also the first and only time I felt horror from reading a book page.

Like when Alan Moore tells you that stories outlive people and you realise you're reading a page from a story that will outlive you, read in the right frame of mind Blood Meridian will touch you deeply with it's fountain of difficult themes of humanity and the natural world. 

  On 7/24/2023 at 2:11 AM, chim said:

There are so many reasons why I think it's fantastic. It's not an easy read but incredibly rewarding once you start to look into the fathoms below the apparent violent Western story.

First of all I just adore the writing style. It's mostly naked, straightforward and somewhat Hemingway-style simple, then you get these very elaborate scenery descriptions, and terrific eloquent dialogue. It takes some getting used to, but McCarthy's style and choice of words are what brings the world to life. 

There's a strong historical accuracy with practically the whole journey being mapped beforehand according to the historical counterparts.

As for the meaning itself it's no use talking here for people who haven't read it, but I believe it's a powerful mix of a few universal themes, and a take on those that gives you a choice. It's very dark and gloomy at first glance but I believe it's way more than just the surface stuff. I'm not just talking about the interpretations of the villain who's always the popular point of discussion, but the symbolism of the other aspects of the story as well. 

The writing plays with you as well, certain things in a situation are deliberately not spelled out directly which, if you pay close attention, can make you question the actual role and actions of a character. This is genius writing, and to me it's the main reason why it's unfilmable because I would not want to lose that ambiguity. 

The ending is also the first and only time I felt horror from reading a book page.

Like when Alan Moore tells you that stories outlive people and you realise you're reading a page from a story that will outlive you, read in the right frame of mind Blood Meridian will touch you deeply with it's fountain of difficult themes of humanity and the natural world. 

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Great great analysis.
 

The main things I remember now a decade on from last reading: narrator describes a boy “shitting” in the corner of an enclosed home, and the main character setting his revolver in the fire and shoving it through a bullethole in his leg to cauterize it. 
 

I imagine my memory comes all down to the writing. McCarthy can wax poetic then slam you with a Hemingway hammer. 

Old but gold

Finally arrived

  On 7/27/2023 at 11:33 PM, chim said:

Finally arrived

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Enjoy, Chim! Old school violence! The intrigue for me is in society meeting the wild - guns meeting bow and arrow. In a 19th century city you can visit a hospital - out in the desert you’re dead. Water, food, and bullets

  On 7/26/2023 at 6:08 PM, MadameChaos said:

Old but gold

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Like the Vivian Maier photo on the cover - I’ll check this out

  On 7/28/2023 at 11:15 PM, DyeMyBlueBlack said:

  On 7/28/2023 at 11:18 PM, DyeMyBlueBlack said:

Like the Vivian Maier photo on the cover - I’ll check this out

I’m checking out this shit

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/05/15/symbols-and-signs

it's the top of spooky season imo and this has been pretty good. just got through an excerpt of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand" which was pretty dang great

this Blair anthology is in chronological order so it's getting spookier as it goes but so far I'm loving it

Been on a Le Carre roll the last few months, started with the Smiley classics and branching out most recently to the Night Manager. One of those authors who I really wish I'd paid more attention to while they were still alive

edit: The ending to Our Kind of Traitor is very apt this week

The embossed cloth on Moby Dick is really something else. Really happy to see SPQR has that many pages and loads of illustrations as well. 

  On 9/17/2023 at 4:29 AM, logakght said:

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This seems interesting. Is it?

  On 8/23/2023 at 9:32 PM, chim said:

The embossed cloth on Moby Dick is really something else. Really happy to see SPQR has that many pages and loads of illustrations as well. 

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The Moby Dick looks v.nice. I like the clothbound Penguin classics series. I've got the Austen series and The Ring of the Nibelung. 

  On 9/18/2023 at 9:27 PM, cichlisuite said:

This seems interesting. Is it?

Definitely. If you're interested in how mathematics can model our reality, but knowing there are actual limits to it and our understanding of the world philosophically, then this is a Beautiful work. I bought it physical, but you can take it from here digitally: https://animanoir.notion.site/The-Computational-Beauty-of-Nature-Computer-Explorations-of-Fractals-Chaos-Complex-systems-and-Ad-54abaf6db88f4118a4e8fc5d95e1f8f1?pvs=4

  On 9/18/2023 at 11:33 PM, logakght said:

Definitely. If you're interested in how mathematics can model our reality, but knowing there are actual limits to it and our understanding of the world philosophically, then this is a Beautiful work. I bought it physical, but you can take it from here digitally: https://animanoir.notion.site/The-Computational-Beauty-of-Nature-Computer-Explorations-of-Fractals-Chaos-Complex-systems-and-Ad-54abaf6db88f4118a4e8fc5d95e1f8f1?pvs=4

this stuff always fascinated me, fractals, chaos and complexity theory description of nature etc, however i'm no mathematician so any explanation with equations would be lost on me. thanks for the link, i'll definitely check this out!

  On 9/19/2023 at 9:08 AM, cichlisuite said:

this stuff always fascinated me, fractals, chaos and complexity theory description of nature etc, however i'm no mathematician so any explanation with equations would be lost on me. thanks for the link, i'll definitely check this out!

Awesome! It is indeed wonderful. And don't worry, that math here isn't really that complex and something with a basic tutorial on the matter would do.

  On 9/19/2023 at 9:08 AM, cichlisuite said:

this stuff always fascinated me, fractals, chaos and complexity theory description of nature etc, however i'm no mathematician so any explanation with equations would be lost on me. thanks for the link, i'll definitely check this out!

I would also recommend James Gleick's book "Chaos", one of the only non-fiction books I enjoyed enough to read more than once

  On 9/19/2023 at 8:18 PM, logakght said:

Awesome! It is indeed wonderful. And don't worry, that math here isn't really that complex and something with a basic tutorial on the matter would do.

I scanned through the book yesterday and I already found some very insightful passages and chapters. The math is just enough to take it seriously and delve into it.

  On 9/19/2023 at 9:11 PM, luke viia said:

I would also recommend James Gleick's book "Chaos", one of the only non-fiction books I enjoyed enough to read more than once

Great! Thanks for the recommendation. I guess this winter is going to be chaos themed.