I read short fiction books slowly
Big fan of Gaiman, Vonnegut, Bukowski. Yes that's right I am basic af.
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It's interesting reading Buk take on such a radical change in genre and subject compared to what I've read of his before.
It's so different and yet still unmistakable him through and through.
I enjoyed this. I burned through this in a few days rather than talk to my family over Christmas. Hey ho. And so it goes.
"My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist …
Content warning Spoilers yes. Don't click if you haven't read.
There's a lot of inspirational stuff about following our dreams and never giving up.
And a lot of stuff about learning what true happiness is.
But then it's a bit too pseudo-religious for my liking.
And then in the final 30ish pages all at once several things happened that I thought ruined the whole book: - the alchemist really does turn lead into gold, after it seeming for many pages that it was all just a metaphor - the boy really does talk to God and turn himself into the wind, after (again) seeming like it would all stay grounded in reality and it would only happen figuratively - he found actual treasure at the end! I thought the whole point was that treasure is in us already, its in the connection to the universe and in fining love and purpose.... Coelho make it seem like that's the lesson but then right at the end it turns out, no, the treasure is gold. Not love.
In this exhilarating novel, two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners …
Feel like everyone I know read this book last year - so I'm a little behind the curve - but finally I got around to see what all the hype is about.
I really enjoyed it. Having been a big gamer as a kid a still somewhat now, it all felt super real to me.
The characters were beautifully drawn, fully realised, deep and complex people.
There were a couple or irks I had (someone got word-of-the-day toilet paper for Christmas eh?) but nothing that stopped me having a great time with this book.
The daring, dazzling, and highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Song …
I really enjoyed this book.
I picked it up to read during a week holiday in Greece, I thought it would be fun to learn about some Greek mythology while I was there.
It was - but this book was fun so far beyond just learning about ancient mythology, this was a well-drawn portrait of a deep and complex evolving character.
This book doesn't just tell us about Circe, it takes us along with her on her journey.
"H. Jon Benjamin--the lead voice behind Archer and Bob's Burgers--helps us all feel a little …
Failure is an option. Words to remember. Just try, and if you fuck up... The sun will still rise tomorrow.
Content warning Spoilers if you don't already know the basic premise of the book. If you know the gist, as I'm sure everyone does, then it's basically spoiler free.
It's an interesting little book.
Of course everyone knows the basic premise, but still it was fun to read the way it was told. The way we hopped across a few different viewpoints at different times, and had different narrators, through the use of letters that the characters send each other, was quite clever and interesting.
But I do think Stevenson could have done a lot more interesting things with this premise. The idea that you can take a drug and a different half of your personality can come out, one that you've been longing to let out of the cage all along, is fascinating and I think there's scope there to explore how his potion is any different from a person with an addiction who doesn't feel like they're themselves until they drink, smoke, take drugs etc. There were feint allusions to this, it's in the text, but really I would've liked more around the questions of how much were responsible for our own actions when under the influence, how much we have to surrender to our instincts vs fight them, and how much or little we have to accept ourselves vs working to change and grow
People say this book is an essay on the duality of human nature but honestly, it isn't really. It could have been! If it were 100 pages longer perhaps...
Content warning Full spoilers, I talk about which parts of the book really resonated with me
This book meant a lot to me. As a person who's always known I was different and often felt like an alien - much as Fern describes - it's taken me until now - just a few months shy of 40 - to finally seek help and start getting my mental problems properly understood.
While I can't empathise with Fern having an even harder time getting properly diagnosed than me due to gender, I certainly can empathise with the struggle of a GP who knows little to nothing about autism/adhd/much of anything else. My GP diagnosed me with depression and gave me SSRIs 15 years ago and wrung her hands of me. It didn't feel right at the time but I didn't have the mental energy or focus to fight that and push for a better diagnosis or a reasonable plan to move forwards. For all these years a part of me knew that wasn't right. Or at least that it wasn't the whole story.
Reading this book was important to me. I am not alone. It's not my fault.
Fern describes her feelings and the difficulties it has caused almost like I'm looking into a mirror. Especially the way she describes her difficulties masking and how hard it is for her to maintain, how much energy it drains.
She talks openly and freely about how hard she has worked over years to do a better and better job of masking and "being normal" and how this has become a big goal for her. I've been on the same journey, working on gradually "normalling out" as I age.
I know it's not about me. It's about her. But it's also about all of us. And it's about the systems that let us down.
Mental health problems are seen as something that you shouldn't talk about because it makes you weak. And if you do talk about them you're dismissed with "oh everyone does that don't be silly" or "maybe you're overthinking it" or "can't you just try to think more positive?" or of course the classic "you don't seem autistic you seem OK" (as if people have no idea how good at masking a person can become with years of practice and an ungodly fear of letting the mask drop and being found out)
There's no happy ending in this book, as there shouldn't be. The book ends with an acknowledgement that she has managed to muddle through so far, albeit with great struggle, and will continue to try her best to do so, but it will continue to be a struggle. This is all we can do isn't it? I'm rooting for you Fern. Good luck. It will not be easy but you can do it.
The book explores one of Vonnegut's favorite recurring themes, which is his belief in our …
I read this in one sitting on a plane and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Often struggle to get into a book on a flight, there's so much noise around, I usually find I have to read the first page or two over and over before I really find my focus. But with this book it came to me and I was into it straight away, and couldn't stop turning the pages until I'd finished.
As he explains in the prologue (so I'm not classing it as or marking it as a spoiler) this is not an autobiography but something vaguely close to one, an oddball fairy tale about how he thinks of and feels about the world. In that regard the story is very personal to him despite being quite fantastical in plot and themes.
Kurt writes tales of family and kinship, or allegiance and the oddities of human tribalism, of …
I read this in one sitting on a plane and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Often struggle to get into a book on a flight, there's so much noise around, I usually find I have to read the first page or two over and over before I really find my focus. But with this book it came to me and I was into it straight away, and couldn't stop turning the pages until I'd finished.
As he explains in the prologue (so I'm not classing it as or marking it as a spoiler) this is not an autobiography but something vaguely close to one, an oddball fairy tale about how he thinks of and feels about the world. In that regard the story is very personal to him despite being quite fantastical in plot and themes.
Kurt writes tales of family and kinship, or allegiance and the oddities of human tribalism, of loving and of... not loving.
Though the plot was even a little more haywire than Kurt's usual fare, and so it wasn't my favourite of his, nonetheless I really enjoyed taking another walk through Kurt's psyche. I rarely feel at home as much as when I'm reading Vonnegut.
Hi ho
A fun little foray into a small selection of history's biggest bullshitters and the mild chaos they have created.
Tom writes well and delivers a good read that had me laughing as often as it had me going back a page or two to check if I'd really read something as incredulous as I thought I had.
I like the positive ending. In an era often referred to as post-truth, it's a helpful reminder that there is nothing new under the sun, we have always been surrounded by bullshit, we managed to survive it then and we will survive it now.
Content warning Discussion around traits of the main characters and how they relate to the plot
Well, I have a lot of thoughts on this short book. Where to start?
Let's start with Holly. She's a knob really isn't she? I can't quite get my head around the space between the character that this book seems to think it's describing - suave, sophisticated, interesting - vs the character I actually see - false, vacuous, vapid, insincere.
That said, Holly is not without cause for empathy and compassion. Set in the 1940s, this book exists in a space and time that was not kind to women, and here we see the portrait of a young woman trying to find her way to what she perceives to be success in this world. Sadly this was only really possible in this context by attaching herself to a series of men who might choose her as their trophy bride, if she's lucky. It's quite a sad life to hope for.
The way that men in this book seem to fawn over Holly and worship the ground she walks on baffles me. While I'm sure she is very beautiful - we're certainly told that she is - her entire persona is a facade, hiding a well of trauma-riddled chaos.
The language we read in this book around people of colour and people of the LGBTQIA communitiy is hard on the eyes, and bounces loud around my head as I read it. I'm sure that by the standards of the time these terms were mild, but today it has not stood the test of time.
As society progresses further and further from this time period, literature that is built around these themes becomes harder and harder to read.
I wonder if this book would hold such a prominent ongoing place in the zeitgeist if it weren't for the influential movie - despite the fact that the movie is only a very loose adaptation.
WHAT MAKES US HAPPY? BILL BAILEY PLAYS CRAZY GOLF AND HUGS TREES TO FIND OUT. …
I really enjoyed this book.
I’ve been paying more and more mind to my own mental health over the last few years, and am on something of a journey of discovery with it. I’ve been reading and learning a lot about mindfulness, meditation, stress management, burnout, trauma recovery, yoga, and the whole gamut of topics around the free flowing concept of happiness.
This book was a refreshing break from that genre of happiness pornography.
This book is lighter than that, less highfalutin and much more fun.
Bill takes us through a collection of rather more tangible and explicit things he has found to bring smiles to his bearded face, through the lens of recounting to us the stories of how he came upon these divine-sent talismans of contentedness.
As Bill himself says in Chapter 2: “Regarding the positive thinking bandwagon, I’ve no quibble with the defined precepts such as ‘don’t …
I really enjoyed this book.
I’ve been paying more and more mind to my own mental health over the last few years, and am on something of a journey of discovery with it. I’ve been reading and learning a lot about mindfulness, meditation, stress management, burnout, trauma recovery, yoga, and the whole gamut of topics around the free flowing concept of happiness.
This book was a refreshing break from that genre of happiness pornography.
This book is lighter than that, less highfalutin and much more fun.
Bill takes us through a collection of rather more tangible and explicit things he has found to bring smiles to his bearded face, through the lens of recounting to us the stories of how he came upon these divine-sent talismans of contentedness.
As Bill himself says in Chapter 2: “Regarding the positive thinking bandwagon, I’ve no quibble with the defined precepts such as ‘don’t judge others’, ‘stay optimistic’ etc, but in my experience, something less high minded and more mundane like “always put the lids back on jars” will often elicit the same amount of well-being” - and this pearl early on in the book very much sets the tone for how we will proceed.
For this book, a yoga mat will not be required - nor a background in buddhist philosophy.
I’ve always been a fan of Bill, from growing up watching his standup sets late night on Paramount Comedy channel in the UK, when I should have been in bed early for school the next day, through Black Books and up to having seen him live a little while back. With him mostly off our screens these days this book was, for me, a welcome return of his voice into my life.
Wow. I loved this book. Such an honest and frank depiction of a hell of a life so far.
I'm broadly familair with Limmy's work, mostly through YouTube, through the word of mouth of a few Scottish friends - bu I wasn't an expert on him as I went into this.
I chose this book as I am focusing more and more on mental health as I get older, and a good friend who knows me well recommended this book, as he suggested that Limmy has a lot of the same traits - and struggles with them - that I have.
The friend was absolutely correct and actually, reading this book through, it was startling how much my life has in common with Limmy's - not only our mental health struggles but even our upbringing, our career paths, our outlook.
I didn't know I was going to see so much …
Wow. I loved this book. Such an honest and frank depiction of a hell of a life so far.
I'm broadly familair with Limmy's work, mostly through YouTube, through the word of mouth of a few Scottish friends - bu I wasn't an expert on him as I went into this.
I chose this book as I am focusing more and more on mental health as I get older, and a good friend who knows me well recommended this book, as he suggested that Limmy has a lot of the same traits - and struggles with them - that I have.
The friend was absolutely correct and actually, reading this book through, it was startling how much my life has in common with Limmy's - not only our mental health struggles but even our upbringing, our career paths, our outlook.
I didn't know I was going to see so much of myself in him - or him in myself before I read this but I was glad I did. I am not alone. None of us are alone.
Thank you Limmy for sharing your story.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (also Romanized Ilich, Ilych, Ilyitch; Russian: Смерть Ивана Ильича, romanized: …
I'd been wanting to dive into some Russian classics for a while, and Google told me this one was the most accessible so there it is.
Found a cheap used copy from a little independent store, result!
Unfortunately, and I wonder if it was maybe due to the translator, I found the prose a little flat, lacking much depth or character.
I did like the story, there's something quite fascinating about a tale of the fantastically mundane.
I did also like how it ended but of course I won't say any spoilers here.
But ultimately... I didn't love this book. I liked it but I didn't love it.
It is short and accessible so if you're like me and just wanting to experience some Tolstoy in a few hours, it's a good choice.
The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, …
8 days ago I picked up a different book entirely - one of the classics - and found myself really struggling to get into it. After an hour I'd read the same 20 pages 3 or 4 times. It was no good, I wasn't enjoying it at all - something must be done!
So I put it down and instead reached into the bookshelf for comfort and enjoyment and my hand came across Kurt Vonnegut, as it so often has before.
This book was what the doctor ordered.
This book took me through time and space but mostly just through humanity.
This book taught me everything and nothing - as all good books should.
This book had me laughing out loud in the OBA Public Library, Oosterdokskade, Amsterdam Centraal, Holland, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way.
And so it goes.
