I felt like I never really understood what this book was about the whole time I was reading it, and yet I found it strangely compelling. I got sad as I saw the end of the book approaching. I think I'll be returning to this one.
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Arts grantmaker living in Austin, TX. Jazz, museums, pre-Kurtzman Star Trek, so forth and such as. Also in the fediverse at @5easypieces@social.coop.
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Koven Smith's books
View all books2023 Reading Goal
Koven Smith has read 0 of 25 books.
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Koven Smith started reading The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The long-awaited new novel from one of America’s most highly regarded contemporary writers, The Committed follows the Sympathizer as he …
Koven Smith set a goal to read 25 books in 2023
Koven Smith reviewed The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip …
Strangely compelling
4 stars
Koven Smith finished reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the …
Koven Smith started reading Watergate by Garrett M. Graff
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky, comes …
File under "things I can't ever know enough about, for some damn reason."
Koven Smith rated Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: 4 stars
Koven Smith finished reading Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View by Various Authors
Koven Smith rated Binti: 4 stars
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at …
Koven Smith finished reading Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at …
Koven Smith finished reading Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
Koven Smith rated Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life: 5 stars
Koven Smith started reading Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
From the Publisher:
When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he secludes himself in the mountain home …
Koven Smith started reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the …
Koven Smith quoted Playing changes by Nate Chinen
One of jazzs leading critics gives us an invigorating, richly detailed portrait of the artists …
If it was youthful idealism that had [Brad] Mehldau determined to plant his flag on the right side of history, maybe it was youthful arrogance that led him to toss around words like "fascism" when peering over at the other side. In any case, he was painfully self-aware about the meager contribution he and his generation would be able to make within the given constraints of the art form.
— Playing changes by Nate Chinen (Page 40)