“Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?� � Laurence Sterne, The Life and“Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?� � Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
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A POEM IN WHICH IS A CELEBRATION BY NEGATION or, a repartee on jeopardy.
If on a friend’s bookshelf You cannot find Joyce or Sterne Cervantes, Rabelais, or Burton,
You are in danger, face the fact, So kick him first or punch him hard And from him hide behind a curtain. � Alexander Theroux*
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I was (of course) destined to love this book. Just look at my love for/on Montaigne, Cervantes & Burton. J'adore big books full of absurdity and digressions and allusions. This is the ... THE ... grand-pappa of the modern novel; the paterfamilis of all things Shandy.
Looking into the black night after emerging with a book from my mother's womb, I dreamt of THIS book among the stars. Sterne's Tristam existed for me before I read it. It was like a song whose tune you hum in your head for years, before identifying the tune with an actual song. Tristram Shandy was playing in the background as I read Joyce, Nabokov, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Murakami, Pynchon, DFW, Rushdie, Woolf, etc. Hell, even Karl Marx loved this book.
But now, I find myself debating on whether I will be content with my Modern Library (Fokenflik intro and notes) version or if I need to go buy the or the .
IF this seems like an odd obsession after reading/finishing Tristram Shandy, perhaps you haven't read it. It just isn't one of those books you really escape from. I keep digressing back into the novel because you keep recognizing the novel in other novels and movies and people. I look at Mandelbrot sets and think THIS is Tristram Shandy with its digressions, repetitions, and spawn. I look at the endnotes of DFW and think, this IS a Shandian experiment. I look at Vonnegut's picture of an (pg 81) in BreakFast of Champions and think: this is a Shandian experiment.
Sterne was postModern before postModern was cool. Reading Tristram Shandy is like discovering that someone in the 18th century had already built a working computer, but that all it did was spit out a long sequence of digressions. Anyway, my wife informed me that she loved just watching me read (so this is now a voyeur review) Sterne because I would spit, giggle, choke, and squirm every page. I would wiggle and twist as Sterne would allude to the classics and twist the logic and satirize everyone from Robert Burton to Jonathan Swift to William Warburton. I can't say this novel isn't appreciated. Those who have read it get it, but it isn't appreciated enough. I imagine it will be like discovering Frank Zappa in 200 years. A future me will be looking at old YouTube videos and will think GOD why didn't more people appreciate him?
* props to Nathan N.R. Gaddis for uncovering/exposing this poem. ** I did get it. I occasionally pull it off the shelf and pet it, and cry, since Visual Editions is no longer a thing, but this book exists and I possess it. *** I also bought the entire University of Florida Sterne output. Which, if my math serves me, is 9 volumes....more
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.� � Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bu“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.� � Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit
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Sometimes what is natural still deserves a little study. What is exactly is bullshit? How is bullshit different from a lie? How is bullshit different than humbug? If these questions plague you or you are just seeking a philosopher's take on the nature, design, function, and theory of bullshit -- well do I have a book (a short book) for you.
In the current election year especially, this title deserves a bit more attention. Upon reflection, this book might suggest that Trump is, at heart, more of a bullshitter than a prevaricator. He isn't saying things he knowingly KNOWS false (although he probably does that too), but rather he just talks without knowing about the things he talks about.
I've got a good friend who is a ghostwriter for Trump. At dinner a few weeks ago, he suggested that most people underestimate just how little Trump actually knows. So perhaps, (and this is certainly no excuse and NO REASON to elect the man) Trump isn't a liar but a well-formed, well-practiced, toxic bullshit artist. He is just the guy on the corner selling bullshit. I guess, now that he looks to be almost unelectable, I'm more concerned really about the people standing in line STILL to buy some of that bullshit....more
“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its jagged edges.� � Herman Melville, Billy Budd
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Reading 'Billy Budd' left me thinking of David Fo“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its jagged edges.� � Herman Melville, Billy Budd
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Reading 'Billy Budd' left me thinking of David Foster Wallace and his unfinished novel The Pale King. Both are unfinished literary works that -- despite their roughness (and yes incompleteness) -- seem to suggest or hint that if given time/space/temperament, etc., Melville and Wallace could have produced works equalling their respective magna opera. Both are full of a confident stillness that hint at a genius between the words and a soul and art floating just under the text.
Is Billy Budd a greater work than Moby-Dick? Pshaw! Of course not, because perfection. But it shows that that damn book about an enigmatic, amelanist whale was not a fluke. Billy Budd's simplicity and shortness is deceptive -- the water here isn't wide, but it is deep with strong currents.
At the end of reading this I was left with a dreamy visual of a giant wave which looks destined to break in a tremendous fashion against the ship I am sitting in. At the very last moment, however, the swell rolls under my lonely craft. While the ship survives, there is that one full-stop second; that heavy moment as the wave passes UNDER the portside where your bodymindandsoul recognizes the strength of the ocean and the power of that one beautiful wave that barely missed destroying you....more
''Most maps are patched together from various papers and reports. Dave has looked at all the rock. It's all in one mind. Most geologic maps are maps o''Most maps are patched together from various papers and reports. Dave has looked at all the rock. It's all in one mind. Most geologic maps are maps of time, not rocks." -- Malcolm McKenna, quoted in John McPhee's Rising from the Plains
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I am nearly finished with the individual portions of Annals of the Former World (Basin and Range �, In Suspect Terrain �, Assembling California �). All I have left is to read the section 'Crossing the Craton' (a forty-page addition to his 40th parallel/I-80 project that filled in the blank in the map and allowed the publishers of 'Annals of the Former World' some additional McPhee text not found in the four main books/sections previously published to incentivize McPhee's fans to fork out the addtional $35 in 1998 to get the whole brilliant McPhee mess).
I read these books a little out of order over a little over the last year. I started off well with 'Basin & Range', 'In Suspect Terrain', but then jumped to 'Assembling California' since a couple of weeks ago I was going to be driving through California and figured it would be nice to have some geology of the geography I was going to be driving through next to me.
While I was a little disappointed with 'Assembling California', I loved 'Rising from the Plains'. I don't know if it was a return to my roots (Wyoming and Snake River and Mormon Country), or the fact that this book seemed just to excite McPhee more. You could tell he loved the Loves (David Love: Yale educated geologist, cowboy; John Love: David's father, mirthful Scot rancher/cowboy, nephew of John Muir; Ethel Waxham Love: David's mother, teacher, writer). He threads this family's golden personality and history with the geology and geography of Wyoming.
These books are dangerous and should not be given to children. I am keeping them locked up with my William S. Burroughs, Henry Miller, etc. If my son or daughter (no field geology sexist me) were to discover these McPhee books too young (s)he might just grow up to be a passionate field geologist. Reading this as I near my 40s, McPhee almost makes me want to take up a hammer, hop on a horse, and ride into the mountains.
I give it four stars, simply because 'Coming into the Country' still exists for me as a slightly better book, but I think the combined energy of all of the 'Annals' is definitely amazing....more
“Truth has no temperature.� � Cormac McCarthy, The Counsellor
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This is one of those movies (watched today, after reading said screenplay) where “Truth has no temperature.� � Cormac McCarthy, The Counsellor
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This is one of those movies (watched today, after reading said screenplay) where you definitely need the book/screenplay to maximize the message. 'The Counselor' is like a road-map through Hell, if Hell looked like Juarez, moved like Cameron Diaz, and smelled like Javier Bardem's hair gel.
Here is my takeaway:
You are responsible for your own world by the choices you make. The things you consume, the things you watch, your desire, your greed, the people you screw ... you own a chunk of that world, because you are complicit in its creation by your choices. You will ultimately find you can't escape the reckoning of fate or chance because the world created by your choices isn't concerned with anything but extracting from you the ultimate payment. It is a noose that was placed over your head the day you were born son. All you can do is accept it and, occasionally, try and make the world just a little bit better for those you come into contact. Bud don't worry, your entire world will end the day YOU end and in the end your grief bought you absolutely nothing.
Or to quote the JEFE: "I have no wish to pain the world in colors more somber than those it wears, but as the world gives way to darkness it becomes more and more difficult to dismiss the understanding that the world is in fact oneself. It is a thing which you have created, no more no less."...more
(***1/2) Finished reading this with my kids, but I probably enjoyed it the most. It was a fun introduction to Lawrence of Arabia written by Alstair Ma(***1/2) Finished reading this with my kids, but I probably enjoyed it the most. It was a fun introduction to Lawrence of Arabia written by Alstair MacLean in 1962. It focuses on the role that T.E. Lawrence played in the Arab Revolt during WWI. There is just enough wind-up with his early life, character, etc., and the history/geography of Arabia to insure the thrust of MacLean's small biography doesn't lose nonserious readers in a desert of Arab ignorance. But the book's real brilliance is in MacLean's depiction of the Capture of Aqaba, Battle of Tafileh and the Fall of Damascus. At the end, MacLean also ties the book off with a summary of the post-War years and some of the political results of T.E. Lawrence's work with Winston Churchill and the Colonial Office.
Again, as a biography this is probably not where I would start for T.E. Lawrence. This is more literary hagiography than biography. Alistar MacLean is better known for his war novels like 'The Guns of Navarone' and 'Where Eagles Dare'. MacLean's book came out the same year as Lawrence of Arabia the academy award winning movie (which suggests this was one of those books intended to surf the wave of interest generated by a popular film). But still, if you are going to read one biography to your kids designed around a legend, saint, or mythmaker ... you could certainly feed the kids worse....more
“The proper way to understand any social system was to view it from above.� � Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
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There is certainly a lot to like a“The proper way to understand any social system was to view it from above.� � Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
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There is certainly a lot to like about Eleanor's novel. Its structure is fascinatingly clever and reminds me a lot of the way Nabokov divided Ada, or Ardor. Part 1: 360 pgs, Part 2: 160 pgs, Part 3: 104 pgs, Part 4: 96 pgs, Part 5: 40 pages, Part 6: 26 pages, Part 7: 13 pages, Part 8: 10 pgs, Part 9: 6 pgs, Part 10: 6 pgs, Part 11: 4 pages, Part 12: 4 pages. Or looked at slightly differently:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXX XX X x x . .
Compare this to Nabokov's ADA: Part 1: 326 pgs, Part 2: 120, Part 3: 86, Part 4: 32, Part 5: 25 Or looked at slightly differently:
Catton is following in the brave tradition of Nabokov, Pynchon, et al in constructing an elaborately structured novel. The plot is interesting, but at times ends up being a little redundant. Do we really need to look at the same event from twelve different angles? OK, I'm not sure if that actually ever happens, but at points in the novel it felt like it did.
The problem with Catton is all the writers I want to compare her to (Pynchon, Dickens, Carey, Nabokov) demolish her prose. Her language while precise didn't twinkle or thrill me. Her plot while interesting didn't pull OR push me. Her characters while curious didn't move or provoke me. And her setting, while exotic didn't capture or entice me. I want to give her credit for her MFA/MCW-boxed ambition, but great literature can't be solely rewarded for its ambition and potential. 'The Luminaries' lacked the heart, soul and transcendence that a book about the stars and lovers almost demands. She belongs on the shelf next to Eggers, just not next to Nabokov. ...more
“In this way, the bravery of the warrior underwrites collective civic cowardice, while fostering a slack, insipid patriotism.� � Andrew J. Bacevich, B“In this way, the bravery of the warrior underwrites collective civic cowardice, while fostering a slack, insipid patriotism.� � Andrew J. Bacevich, Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country
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Andrew Bacevich follows up on the threads he started with The Limits of Power and Washington Rules. In this book he explores how the post-Vietnam transformation of the military from a citizen-soldier force to an all-volunteer force has come with many unintended (but not necessarily unseen) costs. Not the least of which is the expansion of long almost perpetual wars and a limited exposure of the real cost of wars to either the politicians or general population of our country.
The last letter I received from my older brother (an Army helicopter pilot who served twice in Iraq and twice in Afghanistan) dealt with the idea of reconstituting the draft. While Bacevich doesn't actually recommend the draft, he does think a conversation about national service and the draft would be useful. We have reached a point where our nation's imperial impulses have grown dangerous, while at the same time, we have relegated the cost to either future generations (the lat two major wars were all fought with debt) and a small cadre of professional warriors (less than 1% of our nation's population). If we have no skin (financial or physical) in the game, we are more likely to allow our leaders to continue to push us into perpetual war. ...more
Another email from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and two more reviews (Hydra and this one) deleted:
Hello again,
It looks like you re-posted your review of The Hyd[image]
Another email from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and two more reviews (Hydra and this one) deleted:
Hello again,
It looks like you re-posted your review of The Hydra both on The Hydra book page book page and The Floating Opera book page, despite our notification that the review violates our review guidelines. As the review still violates guidelines, it has been deleted once again. A copy is attached.
Please consider this your final warning. If you continue to violate our guidelines or re-post content that breaks our rules, your account will come under review for removal.
Best regards, The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Team
On Mon, Oct 14 at 6:56 PM , Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ wrote:
Hello,
Your review of The Hydra was recently brought to our attention. Please note that any reviews you post must contain your own original content (see our review guidelines). Any reviews that are simply copy-pasted duplicates of other reviews will be removed. Given this, the review in question has been deleted. We have attached a copy of the review below for your personal records. Please refrain from posting content of this nature going forward.
Best regards, The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Team
description
[redacted]
But, luckily, I translated Manny's troubling review into Spanish*, with Manny's permission (kinda implicit, fair use, etc). While the English version is Manny's work, I take sole responsibility for the Spanish translation below:
En la ducha hace un momento, de repente tuve un momento Eureka . El aspecto de la actual guerra de censura que nos ha estado molestando más es la sensación de powerlessless . Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ pueden cambiar arbitrariamente las reglas, y que apenas se molestó en responder cuando nos quejamos . Pero nosotros no somos impotentes . Hay veinte millones de nosotros, y sólo unas pocas docenas de ellas. Sólo tenemos que ser un poco más organizado , y podemos resistir fácilmente.
1 . Copia de seguridad de todas sus crÃticas, asà que usted tiene una copia de todo lo que has publicado .
2 . Si usted piensa que una de las crÃticas ha sido injustificadamente borrado Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ , publicar de nuevo con una imagen de la Hidra en la parte superior .
3 . Si ves a alguien publicar un comentario Hydra , haga una copia de la misma y que lo ponga a sà mismo .
Podemos mejorar este esquema básico, con un poco de imaginación , por ejemplo , serÃa mejor tener un lugar donde guardamos HTML fuente marcada en marcha de opiniones , por lo que de inmediato pueden ser publicados con el mismo formato, y necesitamos un plan de para la duplicación de los estantes eliminados . Pero podemos resolver eso más tarde. Sin entrar demasiado empantanado en los detalles , estoy seguro de que ver lo que sucederá. El resultado neto de Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ eliminar injustificadamente el examen será que de inmediato se vuelve en muchos lugares diferentes .
I do think that a couple segments of Manny's original review should be translated back into English, so I'll do that too. Translating from the Spanish directly, and not relying on Manny's English:
1. Make an electronic copy of all your reviews, so you have a backup version of everything you have posted/written.
2. If you believe one of the criticisms/reviews/posts have been unfairly deleted by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, post again with an image of the Hydra on top.
3. If you see someone post a comment Hydra, make a copy of it and post it too.
Another email from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and two more reviews (Hydra and this one) deleted:
Hello again,
It looks like you re-posted your review of The Hyd[image]
Another email from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and two more reviews (Hydra and this one) deleted:
Hello again,
It looks like you re-posted your review of The Hydra both on The Hydra book page book page and The Floating Opera book page, despite our notification that the review violates our review guidelines. As the review still violates guidelines, it has been deleted once again. A copy is attached.
Please consider this your final warning. If you continue to violate our guidelines or re-post content that breaks our rules, your account will come under review for removal.
Best regards, The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Team
On Mon, Oct 14 at 6:56 PM , Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ wrote:
Hello,
Your review of The Hydra was recently brought to our attention. Please note that any reviews you post must contain your own original content (see our review guidelines). Any reviews that are simply copy-pasted duplicates of other reviews will be removed. Given this, the review in question has been deleted. We have attached a copy of the review below for your personal records. Please refrain from posting content of this nature going forward.
Best regards, The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Team
description
[redacted]
But, luckily, I translated Manny's troubling review into Spanish*, with Manny's permission (kinda implicit, fair use, etc). While the English version is Manny's work, I take sole responsibility for the Spanish translation below:
En la ducha hace un momento, de repente tuve un momento Eureka . El aspecto de la actual guerra de censura que nos ha estado molestando más es la sensación de powerlessless . Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ pueden cambiar arbitrariamente las reglas, y que apenas se molestó en responder cuando nos quejamos . Pero nosotros no somos impotentes . Hay veinte millones de nosotros, y sólo unas pocas docenas de ellas. Sólo tenemos que ser un poco más organizado , y podemos resistir fácilmente.
1 . Copia de seguridad de todas sus crÃticas, asà que usted tiene una copia de todo lo que has publicado .
2 . Si usted piensa que una de las crÃticas ha sido injustificadamente borrado Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ , publicar de nuevo con una imagen de la Hidra en la parte superior .
3 . Si ves a alguien publicar un comentario Hydra , haga una copia de la misma y que lo ponga a sà mismo .
Podemos mejorar este esquema básico, con un poco de imaginación , por ejemplo , serÃa mejor tener un lugar donde guardamos HTML fuente marcada en marcha de opiniones , por lo que de inmediato pueden ser publicados con el mismo formato, y necesitamos un plan de para la duplicación de los estantes eliminados . Pero podemos resolver eso más tarde. Sin entrar demasiado empantanado en los detalles , estoy seguro de que ver lo que sucederá. El resultado neto de Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ eliminar injustificadamente el examen será que de inmediato se vuelve en muchos lugares diferentes .
I do think that a couple segments of Manny's original review should be translated back into English, so I'll do that too. Translating from the Spanish directly, and not relying on Manny's English:
1. Make an electronic copy of all your reviews, so you have a backup version of everything you have posted/written.
2. If you believe one of the criticisms/reviews/posts have been unfairly deleted by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, post again with an image of the Hydra on top.
3. If you see someone post a comment Hydra, make a copy of it and post it too. ...more
“Suffering is only suffering if it's done in silence, in solitude. Pain experienced in public, in view of loving millions, was no longer pain. It was “Suffering is only suffering if it's done in silence, in solitude. Pain experienced in public, in view of loving millions, was no longer pain. It was communion.� � Dave Eggers, The Circle
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(***1/2) A solid, just not great social network dystopia. Imagine FB::Google::Amazon take over the world. There is nowhere left to hide. No secrets. No privacy. No down time. In fact, "SECRETS ARE LIES, SHARING IS CARING, PRIVACY IS THEFT." While it is interesting, and does seem to mimic some of the warnings of Brave New World, 1984, Neuromancer and even elements of Ghostwritten. In the end, it just isn't Eggers' best work. It is at once more superficial, more clean, more predictable than I would have liked.
Don't get me wrong, I think Eggers is a genius. I think he has an amazing energy and impeccable timing. He seems to deliver a novel or book at almost exactly the perfect moment for publication. He is a nifty zeitgeist surfer. He catches the waves easily and seems to ride every wave of the literary ocean. Impossible? I know, but his production is large, his interests varied, his fingerprints are everywhere.
I guess the problem (for me) is that Dave Eggers is almost the exact opposite of Mark Twain. Mark Twain failed twice at both printing and publishing, but wrote amazing and important works. I think Eggers (with his McSweeney's success, his amazing ability to adapt, his tendency to swim with the currents, to be infinitely relevant, completely likable) is able to do almost everything ... except make me completely love his writing or get drunk off his prose. I always finish his novels/books neither surprised, awed or completely fed. I just feel the need to go read something else, something with heft that isn't looking to the future or the past, left or right, and actually doesn't really give a flying-F if you 'LIKE' it....more
Technically, I've sorta read this. I mean, I've read 'The Queen of Air and Darkness' which is a more abridged, slightly darker, version of the same stTechnically, I've sorta read this. I mean, I've read 'The Queen of Air and Darkness' which is a more abridged, slightly darker, version of the same story. I think T.H. White cut this book down to the nubs a little to make 'The Once and Future King' more managable and probably more marketable. So, while I write that I've read, and while the 'Witch in the Wood' is often used interchangably with 'the Queen of Air and Darkness', they aren't identical twins or even dopplegangers. It is like they are kissing cousins, or perhaps they share the same mother.
“The best thing for being sad ... is to learn something.� � T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone
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I loved it and will definitely write more later “The best thing for being sad ... is to learn something.� � T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone
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I loved it and will definitely write more later as I read the follow-ups with the kids. My brats absolutely enjoyed it, even if many of the jokes, the funky blending of the Medieval with the Modern, might have floated a bit over their tiny wee heads. We three (my brood and me) are excited to push forwad and read the rest of The Once and Future King.
Anyway, I think White perfectly captured the magic, power, fears and the joy of both youth and myth with this retelling of early Arthurian legend. White's theme of power and justice ("Might Makes Right") seem to perfectly capture the political Zeitgiest of now. Perhaps, White like Merlin was just writing through time backwards and wanted to capture the queer contradictions of Imperial Democracy in the global 21st century, but wanted to write it in the 1930s so Disney would be around to animate it in the 60s and thus make his point resonate better in the early 21st century....more
Read with the kids. Avi writes good solid juvinile lit. He isn't Twain, Dahl or Kipling, but hell, few writers for kids are.Read with the kids. Avi writes good solid juvinile lit. He isn't Twain, Dahl or Kipling, but hell, few writers for kids are....more
“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthl“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer � which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.� � Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf
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One of those books that if fun to review because my feelings about it change depending on how I look at it. As a pure book of science reporting/writing, it is probably a noble failure. As a influential environmental book, it is probably a wild success.
It is controversial (STILL) and entertaining (STILL) and a piece of shit/scat and a piece of art. My kids loved it for all the wrong reasons and I probably hate parts of it for all the wrong reasons. So, yes, I'm glad I read it, but I also recognize that it wasn't perfect (sorry, not many Darwins out there)....more
�...when you have been nourishing your soul on expectation, reality is apt to be disappointing.� � Eric Ambler, The Dark Frontier
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Eric Ambler's�...when you have been nourishing your soul on expectation, reality is apt to be disappointing.� � Eric Ambler, The Dark Frontier
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Eric Ambler's first novel is fun, playful, energetic and absolutely revolutionary. This is the first brick in Ambler's wall of reinvention/creation for the espionage thriller. In this novel he predicted the might and seductory qualities of nuclear weapons (in the early 1930s) and parodies the entire thriller genre at the same time. 'The Dark Frontier' also plays with the dual personality/reluctant hero theme as one of the principal narrators and the protagonist of the novel is a physicist who after suffering a brain injury ends up becoming an Ãœber-spy. Anyway, not a superb thriller, but definitely the beginning of a great thriller career. The modern, literary spy novel owes everything to Eric Ambler's early risk taking....more
Jack London said in his review at the time, that the Jungle was the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery. The interesting fact, however, is Sinclair was more concerned about the people, the exploitation of immigrants and children, but the power of this novel ended up being tied to the condition of the food, and not the people. Sinclair was quoted as saying "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Regardless, Upton Sinclair throws a helluva punch. ...more
“For the scene of suffering is a scene of joy when the suffering is past; and the silent reminiscence of hardships departed is sweeter than the prese “For the scene of suffering is a scene of joy when the suffering is past; and the silent reminiscence of hardships departed is sweeter than the presence of delight.� � Herman Melville, Redburn
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It must be awful as a writer to dash off a novel for money or tobacco in a couple of weeks and have it praised, but see your earlier serious novel (Mardi) panned, and your later novel (Moby-Dick) under-appreciated until years after your death. That is the genius of a select group of writers -- they are destined to exist in this weird space between art and the public. Perhaps the strong bitter of Melville's art was just too early and too strange for the public, but they WERE ready for his swipes.
If you are into literature of the sea (The Sea Wolf, The Pilot, Captains Courageous, etc.,) or you are just into Melville, you will want to read this. If, however, this is your first Melville, I'd stick with Moby-Dick....more
I have noticed, however, a lot of recent spy fiction has an almost hyper-fixation on writing about sex, but it is never their novel's best parts. They can write smoothly about counter-intelligence, foreign cultures, and almost everything that is obliquely related to spy-craft, but once they start writing about sex, the prose starts sliding around like a vertigo sufferer on a lake of frozen KY (if you doubt me go read/listen to Matthews' Red Sparrow).
Probably 3.5 stars, but I tend towards grade-inflation with authors I admire, so -- just to be safe -- I'm rounding down on this one (until I decide IProbably 3.5 stars, but I tend towards grade-inflation with authors I admire, so -- just to be safe -- I'm rounding down on this one (until I decide I want to round up in 3 years). I liked the first 4/5, but the last quintile bugged a little. It started brilliantly, but ended with a J. Leno (long explanation of the joke just told). It was like towards the end PKD discounted his readers would get it, so he left simple instructions (remove plastic before eating) and tied the whole thing off neat (with complementary happy ending). Other than the explanatory ending and the relative happy ending for the narrator, the book was fascinating and at times brilliant....more
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