Eva
An interesting dilemma, in an interesting setting. But I was mainly mad at one of the characters for making a specific decision, and wanted to shout at them to be less selfish.
Raunchy, weird, full of animals. She's very good.
Even though this is collection of small and medium snippets (not my preference in graphic novels), and I hadn't seen 3 of the 4 movies she comic-reviews.
Munro is a big Canadian writer, mostly known for her short stories. This is the only novel she wrote, so naturally this is the book of hers I chose.
The book is a series of snapshots of a girl's coming-of-age in a town in rural Ontario during the 1940s. Her father breeds white foxes at the end of a dirt road, her mother sells encyclopedias to farmers while mourning her own ambitions, her family's boarder is gossiped about for being an unmarried woman. There's humor and wisdom yet also darkness in the way Munro portrays the mundanity of these small town characters. And threading through all the stories is the subtle story of girls and women, enduring or trying to overcome the sexist conventions of that time.
This is great writing. I enjoyed the quirkiness of the earlier stories (uncle Benny and his mail-in-bride) and the harsh reality of the later stories (the ending of Del's love story, what an education). Just the middle had maybe too much exploration of different religions.
A meditation on a famous code one-liner in the programming language BASIC. The book demonstrates the elegance of the simple line of code producing a fascinating output. It reflects on the one-liners programming language (Basic), visual output (maze), required functions (randomness), required hardware (Commodore 64), re-interpretations (in processing) and playful extensions (complimentary maze walker). There is no need to give every chapter the same amount of attention. But when you end the book, you are left with a high respect for the thoroughness and meticulousness with which the book's 10 (!) authors executed their mission.
Great collection of the various medical conditions and altered states that play tricks on our mind and make us see/hear/feel things that aren't really there. Sensory deprivation, psychedelics, visual migraines, narcolepsy, etc.
Some fascinating conditions: Polyopia - perceiving multiple copies of the same visual image. Or the temporal variant of it: Palinopsia - images persist to some extent even after their corresponding stimulus has left. Or the Doppelgänger syndrome: perceiving a neutral mirror image of oneself.
My favorite Oliver Sacks anecdote is him taking a mix of cannabis, amphetamines and LCD and setting out to experience the color indigo, which he'd never managed before. He succeeds and has a very indigo trip. Afterwards he continues to look for indigo, yet without success, until years later he visits a classical concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the break - all high on music - he visits the Egyptian jewellery section of the museum and he manages to see indigo again. But only for the short duration for his music-caused ecstatic state.
Part medical mystery, part fear-and-loathing-in-Las-Vegas. Susannah Cahalan tells the story of how she went from a completely normal 24 year old to someone afflicted with paranoia, psychosis and finally catatonia within just a few weeks/months. She has epileptic seizures, hears voices, partially loses her abilities of speech and movement all the while a variety of doctors try to figure out what is attacking her brain. She pieces together the story of her month of madness - of which she herself has no recollection - with the help of her family and friends, hospital surveillance tapes and diagnosis reports.
This is scary - how some brain condition suddenly could out of nowhere completely change who you are - and touching - in her parents and friends devotion to her, and in hearing how her story has helped other patients to be correctly diagnosed.
If you leave out Dyson's few ‘prophetic' interpretations, then this is an anthology of the Institute for Advanced Study's years when they built the MANIAC-0 (now: IAS machine) - one of the first computers based on the Universal Turing machine. Dyson untangles and entangles the many lives that came through Princeton during those years to help build the machine. We get biographies, quotes, lost documentation from the institute's archives, tales of housing logistics and partying engineers. And the story also visits Los Alamos, where the same people who build computers, work on the atomic and hydrogen bomb. At the center of this giant net of disciplines and ideas you find the genius tying everything together: John von Neumann.
Sometimes too detailed, sometimes not didactic enough, but i loved the portraits Dyson painted of these men and women, who dedicated their lives to jumpstart this digital world we live in now. Mainly i come away from the book with this understanding that the invention of the computer is naturally a wide-spread fuzzy collaborative effort where no-one truly stands out, but everyone builds on top of other's ideas.
The natural state of consciousness is entropy, the disorder of the mind, random thoughts that often lead to anxious feelings. To combat this psychic entropy we impose order on our minds. We can do that by executing a task that focuses our attention (we work, play games, do sports, solve problems) or by turning to external stimuli (watch movies, listen to music). While consuming entertainment mostly only tunes out the chaos of the mind, ‘flow' activities help train the mind at getting better at imposing order, while also providing a source of enjoyment.
The most wonderful thing about flow experiences is that you lose your self in the process, but emerge with a stronger self after the experience. It's a cleansing of your mind while also leaving you with a feeling of accomplishment. So, why are we so bad at creating opportunities for flow experiences? That match the right level of skill with the right level of challenge, that allow for focused attention without distractions?
A great book to get inspired. I've known of it but somehow never got around to it until now. So much to take from it. I was actually surprised that he extrapolates the principles of flow from relatively simple focus-activities to one's whole life. Start small, go big.
I loved how the process of giving meaning to one's life is an alternation of turning inwards and turning outwards (1. preserve the self, 2. embrace community, 3. reflective individualism, 4. integrate self with universal values)
My first impression of this novel was how different in style it seemed to [b:Forbidden Notebook 61026364 Forbidden Notebook Alba de Céspedes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1673717495l/61026364.SY75.jpg 1599775], which felt meticulously plotted, sparse and pulled along by narrative, while this one was more stream of consciousness of an anxious mind. And yet the topic of both is similar: womanhood, family, love and the expectations placed on Italian women mid last century. I enjoyed the range of female portraits the first half of the book provided: as we follow Alessandra's upbringing and then her stay in the countryside. The writing was immersive, you felt the allure and languor of the moments that girls and women spent dreaming, waiting, obsessing, wanting to create their own narratives. In a world that's very much controlled by a patriarchal society. But then the second half slows into meandering and repetition, with Alessandra stuck in a marriage and us stuck with her in her illusions. And as I hadn't apparently properly read the book's synopsis beforehand, I wasn't even sure that it would go anywhere. More stars if it hadn't been for the second half.
This was an exceptionally addictive and immersive read. It's rightfully racking up awards in the French-Canadian book scene right now, and I except it will be an easy hit elsewhere too as soon as it gets translated. The film deal is set already as well.
Sacha is living her punk escapist dream in the wild Canadian north in Dawson City. She and her best friend integrate into the very active local punk folk subculture. Work work work during the short summer tourist season, and then bum around and shoot the shit in the long hard winter months. Who needs electricity and running water, if you can survive on beers, jokes, and cuddles with your huskie. But, not everything's perfect. And the way Pierrot slowly turns the narrative around is masterful done and sneakily painful.
A lot of the features about Pierrot mention Kerouac and Beatnik comparisons, and I agree, it did remind me of this rush you experience the first time when ‘on the road' with the colorful cast of Kerouac's stories. But, this is a female voice. Unapologetic, faulty, loving and so good!
A book about how we fit in with others, and how the facades we put up protect and yet also feed our anxieties. It's about how we never escape class differences or family histories. It's about the abilities or inabilities to read other people, and to communicate with each other. It's another tale about this new generation (the Sally Rooney generation?) that's too much in their own head while crippled by world anxieties. I liked how the story communicates a place and a culture. You can recognise Sweden and their people. I also liked how the characters changed locations and countries, in order to change themselves. I appreciated how it left a lot up for speculation. Leaves you with questions. Maybe too much so for Hugo though. I wonder if i would go back to the first part, the future, if I would find there some answers for his rather blank interior in the past. The writing also had a few sentences where it felt it was trying too hard.I loved that conversation in the end, about how when you enter a new culture, the people around you came up on different literature and don't even know those works considered classics in your own very small language corner. (I guess I have to check out [a:Cora Sandel 123374 Cora Sandel https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1337059183p2/123374.jpg]'s Alberta Trilogy!)
A story about institutional classism and racism in the art world. Two Latina women - Anita and Raquel, over a decade apart in time - experience similar injustices and barriers from the men and the established systems around them. It takes a lot of self-awareness, anger and a touch of magic-realism, that then brings out the fighting spirits to right those wrongs.
The audiobook and its narrators were loud and boisterous and a lot of fun to listen to. Now off to read the article about the controversies surrounding this book (about the uncredited artist who inspired it).
Je trempe a nouveau mes orteils dans les livres audio français:
Ici, quand tu ne peux pas lacher prise, meme si cette personne est deja un cadavre!
J'apprecie vraiment que les auteurs introduisent de la musique dans leur texte, et aussi - comme ici - s'ils paratagent une liste de chansons qui ont servi d'inspiration pendant l'ecriture (la liste compilee par quelqu'un sur spotify)
I love the series [b:Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming 6713575 Coders at Work Reflections on the Craft of Programming Peter Seibel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349026758l/6713575.SX50.jpg 6909460] and [b:Makers at Work: Folks Reinventing the World One Object or Idea at a Time 18061116 Makers at Work Folks Reinventing the World One Object or Idea at a Time Steven Osborn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379334742l/18061116.SX50.jpg 25351521], where experts are interviewed about their craft, their love for it and their struggles along the way. This book feels similar in vein. David Byrne shares so much behind-the-scenes knowledge and stories about the music business, that this must be a inspiring and educational treasure trove for new artists. Besides the biographical aspect, this is also a fascinating book about the history of music itself. You learn about the many external influences that have shaped music and composition: how the acoustics of the performance environments for example favor certain instruments over other, and how every new recording or listening technology left their distinct mark on the mix and length of songs and records. Hoping I'll get an opportunity in my future to see Byrne perform live. He seems to have perfected the art of a good stage performance.
Entertaining space adventure with a snarky heroine, a found family space ship crew, and villains that are being very villainy. Better squint at some of the action bits.
A novella - about class division and suppression on generation ships cruising through space - that could have been a short story. While the prose was initially intriguing with its poetic quality, the world and the premise at its core felt rather old school.
Child-like, epileptic Prince Myshkin returns to Russia and gets tangled up in a doomed back-and-forth love obsession, into which he pulls another teasing girl to complete it to a very flighty love quadrangle. We have to see him be pushed around by his own naive emotions and endless good will towards everyone, and by manipulations of his friends and foes. And in between it all we meet a wide range of characters, having long wordy encounters. Even though Dostoyevsky is obviously remarkable with his character descriptions, I have to only give this 3 stars because despite the novel's concise message, I found most of its characters and their often too-long monologues very frustrating. Some characters and plot-lines that were only supposed to be side-stories, expanded and took over whole parts (especially the inheritance plot in part 2 and the very tedious Hippolite in part 3).
Gleick speaks of things one has heard of before, but he does it in such an elegant and explanatory style, rich of anecdotes and never boring. He tells the story of information, its transmission, compression, quantification, definition and spins a web from early telegraph technologies, to redundancies in language, Claude Shannon's formula, how information ends up being entropy and the opposite of entropy, universal Turing machines, information never not being physical and today's information overload.
A retelling of a part of the Old Testament, from the perspective of the women, with a focus on the women. And it's a really good yarn! Of multiple mothers, jealousies, the secrets of mid-wiving, young love, deadly betrayals, and the power of curses.
The title-giving menstruation tent, which in reality is often associated with shunning and uncleanliness, becomes the sacred place for the women, where they rest, luxuriate, tell stories, and celebrate their female goddesses. The author has acknowledged that this is not historically accurate, but, one really wishes it was. 3 days of rest and leasure, what a great idea.
Almost equally entertaining: reading the low-star reviews of Christians who are outraged over the ‘wrong' depiction of their male heroes from the bible :)
Kathy, Ruth und Tommy wachsen auf einer abgeschirmten Internatsschule Hailsham in England auf. Sie sind Klone die als Organspender fungieren werden. Ihre Schule ist ein Versuch den Klonen eine Chance auf ein richtiges Leben zu geben. Ihre kuenstlerischen Faehigkeiten sollen ihre Seele bezeugen. Die Kinder wachsen auf ohne dass man ihnen offiziell die Wahrheit verraet. Es ist ein Tabuthema, aber irgendwie wissen alle bescheid. Spaeter ausserhalb der Schule fuehren alle Organspender ein isoliertes Leben, andere Klone pflegend bevor sie selbst 2-4 Organe spenden, bis sie ihre Aufgabe 'vollendet' haben. Kathy und Tommy haben eine dicke Freundschaft von klein auf, Tommy und Ruth sind ein Paar. Kathy und Tommy finden erst spaet nach Ruths Tot zueinander, koennen allerdings auf nicht ihr Schicksal aufschieben.
Personal and philosophical meditations on what it means to get lost, to lose, to encounter the unknown. How we label unexplored places unknown territories on maps, yet still fill them with our fear and imagination instead of leaving them blank. The color blue runs through the book like a red thread. The blue of distance, of longing, blue as the color of the horizon, the light that got lost, dispersed. Other cultures don't get lost, they wander. Losing oneself as rite of passage. Embracing mystery, uncertainty, the unknowable, that what can't be possessed.
You can get lost in this book, in her stories, her meanderings around the subject, elegant and subtle, lyrical and personal, evocative and elusive, yet grounded in places, cities and wilderness. Relationships, memoires, anecdotes.
Un achat par hasard dans un magasin d'occasion. Mes criteres pour les livres j'utilise pour mes exercices de francais de matin sont tres bas. Cet histoire d'un homme qui tombe en amour avec un fantôme était très sentimental. Je suis tres heureuse j'ai fini! Huit mois !!
Hadrian, Roman Emperor from 117 to 138, writes a letter to his successor Marcus Aurelius. The letter becomes a retelling of Hadrian's life, his triumphs and losses, enemies and lovers. It shares his beliefs and philosophies, that made him a mostly stabilising and constructive influence on the Roman Empire. The book is heavy on historical detail, yet it never reads like a slog. The words are all carefully chosen, and often ask for repeat reading to marvel at their beauty. You come out of it admiring this (fictionalised version of) Hadrian for all his strengths and faults.
The first-person prose of the letter and the beautiful constructed sentences that evoke an older Latin grammar must make this is marvel of an audio-book with the right narrator. The physical FSG paperback is a beauty itself, with the art prints of Roman sculptures mixed in, and even the feel of the cover.
A woman is cut off from the world, and forced to create a new life for herself in the forest by a mountain. Her only companions are a dog, a cow and a cat. She learns to grow food and how to survive in this new environment. Slowly she falls into a rhythm, and finds a sort of harmony in the companionship of her animals. But nature is also cruel...A wonderful story, of an abstract limited world (similar to [b:The Woman in the Dunes 9998 The Woman in the Dunes Kōbō Abe https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361254930l/9998.SY75.jpg 58336]) yet the story is less interested in investigating the mystery of her confinement, but rather in the tasks of the simple life (like [b:Ein ganzes Leben 22550484 Ein ganzes Leben Robert Seethaler https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406198884l/22550484.SY75.jpg 42007512]) and in humanity's bond with animals. Luchs and Bella and Perle will stay in mind. And I have now realized that the audiobook I listened to has been an abridged version, so I will have to fix that mistake eventually by finding the full version.