Introductions - yes! I once wrote an essay about the importance of reading introductions.
Here is my one sentence summary of Madame Bovary: "A cautionary tale about a woman who doesn't know who she is and doesn't spend her time trying to find out."
Celine, Thank you for your reviews and reflections. Food for my literary soul!
Connie, I love your summary—especially "doesn't spend her time trying to find out." So much existential suffering comes from not knowing who we truly are!
And thank you for your kind words and for leaving a comment! Hope you have a lovely day 🕊️
Going to add 'The Last Samurai' and 'The Uncontrollability of the World' to my list immediately. Also v keen to read 'Meditations for Mortals' soon – 'Four Thousand Weeks' inspired me to start writing on Substack again so will be interesting to read Burkeman's followup.
Gonna have to track down 'The Hermit' after I finish 'The Bee Hut' by Dorothy Porter. Need more poetry on the go. Sooo thanks for another inspiring list. :)
thanks as always for reading 💌 I liked how Burkeman structured Meditations for Mortals: it's 28 or so days of small insights and instructions, and reading one chapter a day (then reflecting on it in my journal) was actually really lovely
also, how are you finding Porter's The Bee Hut! haven't heard too much about it (but I'm not that up to speed on Australian contemporary writing!)
Loved The Bee Hut – all the poems are from the last 5 years of Porter's life so they have a real power to them. Many of them are about travel and you feel her love of life and adventure. Worth a puruse, if you ever stumble upon a copy. :)
I loved DeWitt's The English Understand Wool and now want to pick up The Last Samurai, thanks to your recommendation. Thank you for these round-ups -- I always enjoy them!
Thank you so much for reading these posts! And I do hope you'll enjoy The Last Samurai. It's surprisingly playful, too? Lots and lots of humor early on (especially when DeWitt writes about Sibylla trying to WFH and being constantly interrupted by baby Ludo)
Ah I missed Meditations for Mortals was already out, good reminder!
Hartmut Rosa's theories seems to be quite appealing in my circles right now, I just read Alienation and Acceleration this weekend and it indeed it feels like a Byung-Chul Han book, but way more straight-forward and grounded -- less grand sweeping statement and more actual quantative and qualitive arguments. Did you read about his work on "resonance" yet? Exactly something that might happen at a poetry reading for instance.
Place that came to mind to find poetical but also a bit technical descriptions: Boomkat's record descriptions!
Quick selection while browsing: "an oily tincture of vintage psych", "slompy, sultry dub-disco strutters", "pastel-shaded ambience".
the famous warnings to future civilisations about radioactive waste ("this is not a place of honor," &c.) feel to me like the biggest example of deliberately, painstakingly plain description that turned into a well-known piece of language and subject of fascination. i personally recently wrote a simple summary of some information i'd just learned about stick insects that got surprisingly popular on tumblr (https://giantpredatorymollusk.tumblr.com/post/764689336357781504). it also just makes me think of "the red wheelbarrow."
Great quote from Kanai
Yes!! She's an amazing writer—also really love Polly Barton as a translator
Introductions - yes! I once wrote an essay about the importance of reading introductions.
Here is my one sentence summary of Madame Bovary: "A cautionary tale about a woman who doesn't know who she is and doesn't spend her time trying to find out."
Celine, Thank you for your reviews and reflections. Food for my literary soul!
Connie, I love your summary—especially "doesn't spend her time trying to find out." So much existential suffering comes from not knowing who we truly are!
And thank you for your kind words and for leaving a comment! Hope you have a lovely day 🕊️
Going to add 'The Last Samurai' and 'The Uncontrollability of the World' to my list immediately. Also v keen to read 'Meditations for Mortals' soon – 'Four Thousand Weeks' inspired me to start writing on Substack again so will be interesting to read Burkeman's followup.
Gonna have to track down 'The Hermit' after I finish 'The Bee Hut' by Dorothy Porter. Need more poetry on the go. Sooo thanks for another inspiring list. :)
thanks as always for reading 💌 I liked how Burkeman structured Meditations for Mortals: it's 28 or so days of small insights and instructions, and reading one chapter a day (then reflecting on it in my journal) was actually really lovely
also, how are you finding Porter's The Bee Hut! haven't heard too much about it (but I'm not that up to speed on Australian contemporary writing!)
Loved The Bee Hut – all the poems are from the last 5 years of Porter's life so they have a real power to them. Many of them are about travel and you feel her love of life and adventure. Worth a puruse, if you ever stumble upon a copy. :)
I really like the way you incorporate book images in your post. It's clear you put a lot of attention into it and the results look great!
ah thank you! if anyone else wants to do the same, btw—I use a modified version of this Figma template https://www.figma.com/community/file/1114276509329465648/book-covers
Man the Last Samurai rules so hard
I almost can't believe how good it is…DeWitt is such a treasure!!
sometimes i like table of contents or indexes ...the way they are laid out & the way they wobble in specificity is very beautiful some times... 💕
ah yes, this is a good one (the poetry in what concepts are included/excluded from an index!!)
I loved DeWitt's The English Understand Wool and now want to pick up The Last Samurai, thanks to your recommendation. Thank you for these round-ups -- I always enjoy them!
Thank you so much for reading these posts! And I do hope you'll enjoy The Last Samurai. It's surprisingly playful, too? Lots and lots of humor early on (especially when DeWitt writes about Sibylla trying to WFH and being constantly interrupted by baby Ludo)
glad you liked The Last Samurai! One of my favorites, distinctly remember tearing up on a train into nyc when i finished the ending
omg yes—I felt so MOVED by the end of it! the capacity to actually cry, and actually feel invested in a fictional character's journey…
Ah I missed Meditations for Mortals was already out, good reminder!
Hartmut Rosa's theories seems to be quite appealing in my circles right now, I just read Alienation and Acceleration this weekend and it indeed it feels like a Byung-Chul Han book, but way more straight-forward and grounded -- less grand sweeping statement and more actual quantative and qualitive arguments. Did you read about his work on "resonance" yet? Exactly something that might happen at a poetry reading for instance.
Place that came to mind to find poetical but also a bit technical descriptions: Boomkat's record descriptions!
Quick selection while browsing: "an oily tincture of vintage psych", "slompy, sultry dub-disco strutters", "pastel-shaded ambience".
the famous warnings to future civilisations about radioactive waste ("this is not a place of honor," &c.) feel to me like the biggest example of deliberately, painstakingly plain description that turned into a well-known piece of language and subject of fascination. i personally recently wrote a simple summary of some information i'd just learned about stick insects that got surprisingly popular on tumblr (https://giantpredatorymollusk.tumblr.com/post/764689336357781504). it also just makes me think of "the red wheelbarrow."