Books & Reading
On Books, Reading and the Delights therein
-
50. We, the Product…
… [T]he forces of capital have always despised the commons, precisely because you can’t monetize it, and that their signature move has always been to denigrate whatever is shared and free (in this case, reality itself, time itself, which was designated as impossibly, unliveably boring, around 2008). In its place they offer instead something costly,… Continue reading
-
45. Weird Assistants
Picking up Zadie Smith after a long time away has me all in my feels about how much I have missed her excellent way with words. On my current reading docket is her essay collection: Dead and Alive. One of the essays in the collection is The Instrumentalist: On Tar from which an exchange (which… Continue reading
-
44. Favourite Poems
There is a certain type of poem I like (as do most people I suspect); poetry which takes the mundane, quotidian things of life and grants it a form of transcendence. A bonus is it being simple, without any of the overtly scripted flourishes which can come across as contrived (to me at least). I… Continue reading
-
41. Murakami on Writing
To write a novel I have to drive myself hard physically and use a lot of time and effort. Every time I begin a new novel, I have to dredge out another new, deep hole.But as I’ve sustained this kind of life over many years, I’ve become quite efficient, both technically and physically, at opening… Continue reading
-
37. The Finest Hotel in Kabul
It has taken a month and a bit, but I have finally finished Lyse Doucet’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul. As with all books, my interest waxed and waned but in the end, a clear weekend with the brood out of the house was what I needed to power through. Intertwining the lives of ordinary… Continue reading
A Geek's Life 