#1644

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Just pulled it out over the weekend as a reference and really appreciated that it is so readable and well organized. Doubt I will ever attempt it cover to cover, but again it is imho really surprisingly readable so who knows!

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#1645

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The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio De Maria

An engaging mythos style tale from Italy, translated for the first time into English; the story revolves around a man investigating an outbreak of insomnia which resulted in a rash of unexplainable murders that Turin would prefer to forget. Commentary seems to focus on an element of the story called The Library, because it rings as an eerily accurate prediction for how the internet feels - but it’s also not the crux of the story. It’s a brief and well told horror mystery and easy to recommend if you like Lovecraft, Poe, Calvino, or Eco.

A brief note: Do not read the “Translator’s Introduction” before reading the story; it’s bewilderingly spoilery for a book that has never been available in English before. Read it afterward, if you’re curious.

6 Likes
#1646

New book day! Going deep on Wolfe.

[Album] Imgur
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#1647


Wild times they must have been. Yikes.

#1648

I mostly just wanted to reread a couple of familiar series this year, but I’m finding some resonance in the theme of “expendable” labor.

I thought the Stormlight Archive was a completed trilogy (plus novella/short stories) but it turns out, it’s planned to be a two-part, 10-book series (!)

#1649

Friggin loving the Fifth Season series by N. K. Jemisin. I’m on the last book now and it’s a bit slower than the others to me but still good.

3 Likes
#1650

A lyrical response to the atrocities of the Pinochet dictatorship and tribute to the murdered and disappeared.

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And I started this behemoth yesterday. So far, I’m pleased with Lepore’s astute awareness of hypocrisy and contradiction. And though it’s a political history, and thus must address the figures most Americans are aware of, the book isn’t only about the “great” white founders and politicos.

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4 Likes
#1651

dumdumscover

What a mess. Here’s a v. short excerpt:

I “defiled the hours”
with my "squirming dermis

& chaw chaw"

“beating it out”
over their lifeless bodies

My magic eye
outgrew its lid

& began “cannibalizing sight”

2 Likes
#1652

Finally getting around to reading this one!

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1 Like
#1653

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Jinarajadasa - Basic Principles of Artistry

This one turned up, going to give it a try

1 Like
#1654

Any particular takeaways from Peake?

#1655

Yes! Matter, our reality, everything is manifested by light. That light is an infinite spectrum of which humans only sense a small band. Through spiritual practices (kundalini, meditation, psychedelics etc.) The human brain can activate an eye like organ in the brain (pineal gland) to sense outside of this band. Basically what most people know as reality is only a subset of a larger amount of information (godhead). Peake connects everything from ancient cave paintings to the Kabbalah to hypnogogic light therapy to DMT, to the physics of electromagnetic waves to support this idea.

2 Likes
#1656

Sounds right for these times!

#1657

I was looking for something I hadn’t read yet on our shelf the other day and also picked up Gavity’s Rainbow. Read about 40 or so pages and I’m not sure what I want to do here haha… I do like how dense and descriptive it is but it puts me out like a light so I’m not convinced I’ll ever get through it. Every evening I find I pick it up thinking “do I really want to read this?”, really enjoy a few pages, then can’t keep my eyes open. Good for insomnia I guess? Maybe its totally fine to read a book like this over a really really really long time and it doesn’t mean I’m getting less out of it?

Delany’s Dhalgren that was my other option which maybe isn’t much better if that is my current problem? My partner I think finally gave up on it after being super excited to read it saying she found it totally unnavigable and/or making her feel profoundly anxious and crazy. Not sure if I want to invite that in at the moment or not.

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#1658

Dhalgren was a difficult slog when I read it, and I didn’t feel any sense of emotional or intellectual payoff from reading it.

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#1659

dhalgren is a masterpiece, full stop

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#1660

I didn’t find Dhalgren too difficult to get through. It’s harder to read if you approach it from other science fiction but quite a bit more approachable than other postmodern fiction (although I haven’t read Gravity’s Rainbow).
I think if you approach it with the expectation for it to make sense as a linear (or nonlinear) narrative you won’t enjoy it as much as if you just try experience it… if that makes sense.

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#1661

a good friend of mine’s dad had a thing for Gravity’s Rainbow back when my friend was a kid. he made a big deal out of reading it and even printed a custom tshirt that said “I Read Gravity’s Rainbow.” it always struck me as funny that you could build part of your identity on reading one difficult book.

3 Likes
#1662

if anyone who values abstraction, erudition, and headfuckery wants a sci-fi novel that’s even more inscrutable and vaporous than dhalgren, i highly recommend joseph mcelroy’s plus (which remains woefully underrepresented in conversations about the best literary sci-fi)

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#1663

I used to have a thing with a friend where every few years we would try reading it and check in with each other to see how it went. Neither ever finished it and we tried at least 3 times.

But I just KNOW it’s gotta be good.

2 Likes