anyone know about any interesting pathographies?
I really liked Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, Everywhere Antennas by Julie Delporte. Right now I am reading Sick: A Memoir by Porochista Khakpour, and I feel like I want to read MORE MORE MORE. So, can anyone recommend any? Preferably by women. I hate men so much. #sexism

/edit: oh and unrelated to that: I just finished reading Eleanor, or the Rejection of the Progress of Love by Anna Moshovakis. I really wanted to like it. But FUCK. What a pretentious pile of poo poo. I feel like the author thought her being elusive af and having the plot (if there was any!) unfold as slowly as possible would make her seem avant grade and cool? idk. Reading the book really annoyed me. I didn't get anything from reading it, except anger.

Finished up Good Omens this weekend and started a quick romp through "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". After that I'm moving to "High Fidelity"

Currently reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy (he's an obscure writer you've probably never heard of *sips Starbucks coffee*)

Say what you want about Tolstoy, the son of a bitch knows story structure. Seriously though, such a great book. If I'm not listening to it at work I'm reading it at home and quickly get sucked into another world.

One minor criticism is that I HATE Tolstoy's romanticism of the life of a labourer. Something that can only be written by a rich aristocrat thinking things would be better if he had no money. Other than that I'm just loving the book.

hahahahahahahahaha yeah! that is the achilles heel maybe.

***SPOILER WARNING***

though to be fair this is more about the aristocrat assuming his proper role as a steward of the land, as opposed to the parasitical gambler & serial philanderer that invited the revolution—not about being an actual mujik.

the real “no money” guy is his brother... you seen him by this point i assume?

but yeah, he was a bit of a conservative lol...

The part where dude goes threshing with serfs is one of my favorite bits of literature ever. Is that the part you mean h8kurdt?

I see your point, but I see Tolstoy's as well.



Hm. BRIAN ON FIRE? Does that count?

I always thought you had excellent taste in literature Pony. Read any good novels/short story collections lately?

Aaah, thanks! Hearing that makes me really happy :)

I have Brain on Fire sitting on my desk, but I was reluctant to read it, because somebody said it read like a scientific essay. They might have exaggerated, but I haven't looked into it after I was told that. Have you read it? What did you think?

Oh, I read GOOOOOD stuff in the last few months. But you gotta know, the person who finds the following books good is a depressed girl in her mid-twenties ;-) I will give you two each, for now.

SO! Short stories:
Her Body and other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - weird and good. a lot of emphasis on the body and what they endure. violence!

Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh - people just trying their best, man.

novels:

Eve Out Of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi - I picked this up while I was at Foyles in London (my new favourite book store!). I have NEVER heard of this author. Probably because she is not American/English and has (to my knowledge) not yet been translated into german. BUT! LET! ME! TELL! YOU!: I am so glad I bought the book. THIS IS SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN!! It's basically the story of the life of a bunch of kids in Mauritius. There is a shit ton of violence, but also a lot of love. The former really outweighs the latter, but in the end you're like "oh wow. yeah. this is a narrative of love", while basically EVERYONE IS BLEEDING TO DEATH AND LYING IN A POOL OF EVERYONE'S BLOOD.
(can you tell this book really excites/excited me?)

After Delores by Sarah Schulman - ok, so I read the author's non-fiction book "Conflict Is Not Abuse" (basically a book about how to be a normal human being) earlier this year, and I absolutely LOVED it. I didn't know she also wrote fiction, and After Delores made me want to read ALL her fiction. It's about the aftermath of a (lesbian) relationship, with the protagonist being really, and I mean REALLY(!), out of it, being between "BUT I LOVE HER!" and "I WANNA KILL HER / THIS OTHER PERSON/ OH AND THIS ONE / WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!". Beautiful depiction of a hurt brain and body post-love. Very relatable imho. But not boring. Cause, like, "other stuff" also happens. It's about people trying to get their shit together after it hit the fan and WHILE it is hitting the fan.

Neat. Haven't heard of any of those.

I've never actually read Brain on Fire, although I remember a really good interview with the author on NPR. I was trying to be useful.

----

Currently reading EMMA. Over 200 years old!

Currently enjoying Mordecai Richler's Barney's Version.
I overcame Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain. It took a while be was worth it.

Book 7 of The Expanse - Persepolis Rising

Yeah, he's in now, however nothing much has happened with him as if yet. I'm actually surprised at how little Anna is actually in it.


That bit was brilliant I'll say that. Don't know why they didn't just use a decent lawnmower instead of scything away like plebs. His general descriptions on how the labourers lived really does suck you in so well. I've actually no idea where it's gonna go.

I am only on page 50 now, but I need to PRAISE this book:



I never thought I'd enjoy historical fiction, but I am liking this a lot! Danielle Dutton & Margaret Canvendish FOR THE WIN!

Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher

Generally a fan of Mark Fisher's stuff. He takes a lot of his ideas from Slavoj Zizek but moves them in interesting directions. His anaysis of the education industry (because it is an industry) is spot on, as is his general critique of neoliberalism.

EDIT: Rereading it so I may have posted about it before.

this is the 100th book i am reading in 2018.

Otare, by Mohammed Rabie....not my usual cup of mint tea, but extremely well written in parts...you need a strong constitution to read parts of it, though....speculative Egyptian fiction...parts relate to Arab Spring, parts are semi-historical, majority is just plain weird...can’t say it’s a recco, but there is enough there to be pretty mesmerizing

I'm sitting at 27 in 2018, and hopefully get to at least 28 or 29 by year end. Would be nice to get an even 30, but I think that's going to be pushing it at this point.

my goal was 30. once i reached 30, it was 60. when I reached 60 things got out of hand. haha.

I guess one detail is were they big books or were they proverbial quickies that still count as a book. Not trying to discount by any means, because a book is a book. :D

fuck, i just realized i forgot about moby dick!

never managed to get off land actually

TOO MANY FUCKING PROJECTS

i need to cut downnnnnnnnn...

Can't say Moby Dick is one on my to-read list, and I don't plan to add it right now either.

it’s great actually

i just got sidetracked by a lack of solid reading hours

Just sit down and tear through it because it's such a great book to pick up later and read a chapter when you have a moment to kill. Perfect bathroom book, really.


--I own Barney's Version and really enjoyed the movie, but haven't cracked it open yet. Soon.

--I could never finish Magic Mountain. Which isn't to say I never will, but holy shit I've given it three or four tries in my lifetime. Not even sure I ever made it past page 100. Worth it? Really? You promise?

I'll consider it for in the future then. Maybe once my list is smaller.

the first 3 chapters of this thing are solid gold

Finished High Fidelity, started "The Chimes" by Dickens. That and "The Cricket on the Hearth" are what I'm hoping will round me out to 30 books in 2018

oh no i dont want numb legs lololol. plus it promotes ‘roid rage

but yes i plan to get back to that book some point

the thing is ive been very busy organizing new home + work + transpo systems, plus juggling too many projects, plus trying to learn new job skills and it was chaotic for a while

so i’d get 5 minutes free here 5 minutes free there, then watch teevee exhausted at night

lost track a bit this fall, now gotta rebudget the daily schedule and reblock my pomodoros and i’ll be good again

i love the holidays because while everybody is busy doing busy shit i get to reorganize and make my life better

ah yes who eeds to wait for spring for cleaning. dump it all out now! hah...

I got obsessed with Medea after seeing Medea und Jason at the theatre here in Hamburg. So now I am reading Christa Wolf's Medea and I like it a lot!! Will also read Euripides and Grillparzer at some point soon. I have them with me for my christmas visitations!

euripides = man = verbotten

(or so i hear)

btw if you have eyes, highly recommended pasolini + lars von trier’s movie versions

everyone gushes over pasolini but for my money lvt’s 16mm tv version is particularly bananas—medieval looking, a lot of carl theodor dreyer influence, these insane orange hues, really a visual treat

ps you still watch flicks by the menzes or no?

yeah, normally they are verboten, but ... i might make an exception.

i don't have eyes. it's very funny, I feel like I can't watch movies. Have to stop movies every 15 minutes and walk around (but I can sit around for hours reading. weird!)

but for the sake of my new obsession I shall try watching the above movies! thanks for pointing them out!

has anyone on here read christa wolf's "the quest for christa t"? does it stop reading like a bad acid trip? it makes my head hurt

I think I will try to read more in 2019.

I have so many books.

I enjoy fantasy novels, and non-fiction about psychology/sociology/film/etc.

I always start books, get distracted, and never finish though.

The book laden mantle above my fireplace is mocking me rn

Olaf Stapledon - Star Maker

I've made it a new year resolution to dig deeper into the SF Masterworks series so I'm starting with this. So far so very good.

lyn hejinian - a thought is the bride to what thinking

http://eclipsearchive.org/projects/T.../contents.html

I fell short of 30 by some 60 pages or so of a book. Oh well :D I'm also planning to slow down slightly and put some time focus on audiodrama podcasts which are quite intriguing me lately.

Making Trouble, autobiography of Lynne Segal. Excellently written. One where nearly every sentence bears thought.

Re-reading "Animal Farm" for the first time since eighth grade. I remember thinking my classmates were idiots for not liking the book as much as I did, and you know what? I was right. Slightly arrogant, but right.

Animal Farm is an amazing book.

"Look, no hands"? animal farm, orrr...

Which ones? Hook me up bro.

wow look at you walking on two legs now

i see how it is...