i really liked four thousand weeks too ☺️🌱 im enjoying and finding lots of comfort in the other significant others by rhaina cohen - abt very important friendships and life w friendship at the centre !
you're the second person to mention Cohen's book to me…very curious about it now! I'm so interested in ways people commit to many meaningful relationships—not just one romantic relationship, but romantic relationships AND friendships that involve a lot of effort and devotion and care
DID YOU LOOK INSIDE MY HEAD? re: currently writing about how buying a book and putting it on my shelf feels the same as having read it. love the madness of this post
hahaha yes I'm constantly buying new books and checking out an infinite quantity from the library…I will NEVER finish everything in my home! but I'll keep on trying
Genuinely an iconic title + you discussed some issues I'm very interested in…we expect that someone's identity makes them intrinsically more progressive, invested in solidarity, willing to speak up for the oppressed. That's actually NOT true—which is depressing but also useful to know!
And I also think it's really interesting to look at the very powerful and what they won't do, because then I ask myself…given the small amount of power I have, what should I be doing? Basically, "can the Asian-American tech worker speak?"
Absolutely! It is so depressing. And yes, I’ve been thinking that too. Given my measure of financial/geographical privilege, what can I be doing right now? And that’s a much harder question than what some of these professors should be doing. I am speaking, for sure, but what else?
Aw Celine so glad you loved 💝 esp as I’m a dedicated reader of your work!!! Loved this whole post, I’m always begging for people to do reading roundups
thank you!! for reading and for your very funny newsletter
and I agree on reading roundups! a truly underrated form of Content that I don’t get enough of…in our all-encompassing yet strangely limited Recommendation Culture
I'm so happy I happened upon your Substack — I love these reviews and recommendations! I read Cleanness three years ago after walking into a queer bookstore and asking the owner for one book he'd recommend for someone who likes moody, intense, descriptive prose. My backpack was so stuffed that I couldn't fit anything hefty, and I had to give him the book I had just finished (Norwegian Wood) — he told me he couldn't sell it, but he'd keep it for himself. Cleanness was definitely gut-wrenching at times, and beautifully written, and it stays with me.
More recently, though, I read Água Viva at the recommendation of my godfather, who is Brazilian. I'd never read anything like it; for such a short book, it took a lot of time to get through it. My mom actually gave up the first two times trying to make it all the way through. Like you say, she manages to pack the book chock-full of brilliant, insightful stream-of-consciousness like no one else. I'll never look at mirrors the same. If you haven't read The Hour of the Star, it at least has some plot to cling to but is also gorgeous and sensitive, and The Foreign Legion has some really great short stories of hers.
omg I LOVE this story about buying a book and giving one back…the joy of queer spaces, community, etc ❤️ and I felt the same way about Cleanness there's something about the emotional landscape of the protagonist, his anxieties and hopes and fears, the thrill he gets from being with others, the delicious and sometimes terrible uncertainty—all that has stuck with me well after reading the book
I really feel like Clarice Lispector demands a very particular mood, especially with Água Viva. But when I finally sat down to read it I just consumed the whole thing in one sitting and felt very disoriented and excited. She does such amazing things with language!
I haven't read her other works but really should check them out—thank you for the recs! I do need SOME plot to cling to right now (also, great description!!), so The Hour of the Star might be perfect
thanks for reading and for this very generous comment!! 💌
I have "Tell" on my reading pile for next month (I just read the co-winner of the Novel Prize, Anne De Marcken's "It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over" and recommend it! It's very short and sparse, and an excellent zombie novella in a similar vein to Lorrie Moore's "I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home")
Loved the London pub story - having just moved to Brisbane from London at the beginning of the year, I do kind of miss how aggressively unfriendly London can be. It's part of the charm!
thank you for your Anne de Marcken thoughts …very curious about her novel! but also there's an endless number of books to read 🥲🥲
I honestly find people in London quite friendly on average, but in a very low-key way…and I think the aggro pub environment is very different! (great for stories, maybe stressful to actually experience)
Ok fine, you’ve convinced me: I’ll be reading these 3/4 essay collections I’ve impulsively bought as ebooks in lieu of buying lunch. Always great and diverse reccs (and very pleased about Aus lit making an appearance)
yes to more Australian lit! I also bought a copy of a new Australian lit mag last week, so will hopefully be reading and discussing more Australian writers soon…
Wooh! Which lit mag did you get? I really like the Going Down Swinging #40, or the last Kill Your Darlings New Australian Fiction. Island is also good (and the latest has my first big-girl publication!) :)
thank you for reading!! and I hope you do get to check out Tell—it was so so fun to read (like eavesdropping on the MOST interesting conversation at a restaurant)
i really liked four thousand weeks too ☺️🌱 im enjoying and finding lots of comfort in the other significant others by rhaina cohen - abt very important friendships and life w friendship at the centre !
you're the second person to mention Cohen's book to me…very curious about it now! I'm so interested in ways people commit to many meaningful relationships—not just one romantic relationship, but romantic relationships AND friendships that involve a lot of effort and devotion and care
DID YOU LOOK INSIDE MY HEAD? re: currently writing about how buying a book and putting it on my shelf feels the same as having read it. love the madness of this post
hahaha yes I'm constantly buying new books and checking out an infinite quantity from the library…I will NEVER finish everything in my home! but I'll keep on trying
and thank you for reading!!
Thank you so much for including my piece! 💖
Genuinely an iconic title + you discussed some issues I'm very interested in…we expect that someone's identity makes them intrinsically more progressive, invested in solidarity, willing to speak up for the oppressed. That's actually NOT true—which is depressing but also useful to know!
And I also think it's really interesting to look at the very powerful and what they won't do, because then I ask myself…given the small amount of power I have, what should I be doing? Basically, "can the Asian-American tech worker speak?"
Absolutely! It is so depressing. And yes, I’ve been thinking that too. Given my measure of financial/geographical privilege, what can I be doing right now? And that’s a much harder question than what some of these professors should be doing. I am speaking, for sure, but what else?
Aw Celine so glad you loved 💝 esp as I’m a dedicated reader of your work!!! Loved this whole post, I’m always begging for people to do reading roundups
thank you!! for reading and for your very funny newsletter
and I agree on reading roundups! a truly underrated form of Content that I don’t get enough of…in our all-encompassing yet strangely limited Recommendation Culture
I'm so happy I happened upon your Substack — I love these reviews and recommendations! I read Cleanness three years ago after walking into a queer bookstore and asking the owner for one book he'd recommend for someone who likes moody, intense, descriptive prose. My backpack was so stuffed that I couldn't fit anything hefty, and I had to give him the book I had just finished (Norwegian Wood) — he told me he couldn't sell it, but he'd keep it for himself. Cleanness was definitely gut-wrenching at times, and beautifully written, and it stays with me.
More recently, though, I read Água Viva at the recommendation of my godfather, who is Brazilian. I'd never read anything like it; for such a short book, it took a lot of time to get through it. My mom actually gave up the first two times trying to make it all the way through. Like you say, she manages to pack the book chock-full of brilliant, insightful stream-of-consciousness like no one else. I'll never look at mirrors the same. If you haven't read The Hour of the Star, it at least has some plot to cling to but is also gorgeous and sensitive, and The Foreign Legion has some really great short stories of hers.
omg I LOVE this story about buying a book and giving one back…the joy of queer spaces, community, etc ❤️ and I felt the same way about Cleanness there's something about the emotional landscape of the protagonist, his anxieties and hopes and fears, the thrill he gets from being with others, the delicious and sometimes terrible uncertainty—all that has stuck with me well after reading the book
I really feel like Clarice Lispector demands a very particular mood, especially with Água Viva. But when I finally sat down to read it I just consumed the whole thing in one sitting and felt very disoriented and excited. She does such amazing things with language!
I haven't read her other works but really should check them out—thank you for the recs! I do need SOME plot to cling to right now (also, great description!!), so The Hour of the Star might be perfect
thanks for reading and for this very generous comment!! 💌
I have "Tell" on my reading pile for next month (I just read the co-winner of the Novel Prize, Anne De Marcken's "It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over" and recommend it! It's very short and sparse, and an excellent zombie novella in a similar vein to Lorrie Moore's "I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home")
Loved the London pub story - having just moved to Brisbane from London at the beginning of the year, I do kind of miss how aggressively unfriendly London can be. It's part of the charm!
Immediate subscribe.
thank you for your Anne de Marcken thoughts …very curious about her novel! but also there's an endless number of books to read 🥲🥲
I honestly find people in London quite friendly on average, but in a very low-key way…and I think the aggro pub environment is very different! (great for stories, maybe stressful to actually experience)
Ok fine, you’ve convinced me: I’ll be reading these 3/4 essay collections I’ve impulsively bought as ebooks in lieu of buying lunch. Always great and diverse reccs (and very pleased about Aus lit making an appearance)
yes to more Australian lit! I also bought a copy of a new Australian lit mag last week, so will hopefully be reading and discussing more Australian writers soon…
Wooh! Which lit mag did you get? I really like the Going Down Swinging #40, or the last Kill Your Darlings New Australian Fiction. Island is also good (and the latest has my first big-girl publication!) :)
So many good recs!! I’m reading All Things Are Too Small now and loving, and I really enjoyed The Beginners. Adding Tell to my TBR!
thank you for reading!! and I hope you do get to check out Tell—it was so so fun to read (like eavesdropping on the MOST interesting conversation at a restaurant)