Book a Week in 2014 - BW13

[ElaineJ]

  I'm still on Gulliver's Travels and there isn't any reason why I shouldn't finish it this week.  A bunch of the books I ordered should be arriving at the library soon as well.

 

Yes- I am still reading Gulliver's Travels after so many weeks! It's not that I don't like it, I just don't get through much at a time, which is not good since it is a read-aloud with ds. And I'm still only halfway through From This Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple and partway through The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith. I think I will focus on finishing already started books this week!

 

Elaine
 

[Mom-ninja.]

I read my very first Niel Gaiman book. It is a collection of short stories called M is for Magic. It's listed as a children's book, but I do have to admit I won't be handing it to my kids right now. Some of the stories are not ones I want my 10 or 13 yr old reading yet while others are. There were a couple scenes that made me go, "Oh!" and I was glad my kids weren't reading. But I tend to be stricter than most people I know. YMMV.

 

However, I really liked the stories.

[Stacia]

There is also the question of which form to even request the book in -- ebook , where no one else will know exactly what I am reading ;) or traditional, where chunky books may "look" great but are very heavy.........These are the problems that can be discussed on BaW that no one else will ever understand.

Also the fact that I can't tell someone else that I spent an utterly satisfying 20 minutes or so sorting the 30 or so physical library books that I have on hand last night into many categories like: part of a series and waiting for the first , probable hold by others so should seriously read, preread for Dd or Ds and need to stay ahead, and finally an " oooh! can't wait" pile. Here the question is more apt to be "what is in your ___ pile" not "why do you have 30 books checked out." Love being able to talk to other compulsive library people. :)

All these things sound completely normal to me. I would never question why someone has 30 books checked out other than to know which goodies are in the pile! :laugh:

And, then there's the problem of returning a huge pile (some read, some unread, some on lists to remember to check out again later, ...) & then leaving the library with a new, huge pile instead. :lol:

Plus, I'm sure everyone understands the serious arm muscles all of us must have (I think mine are under there somewhere :tongue_smilie: ) from hauling these big piles of books back & forth...

[shukriyya]

Stacia, that's a cross-over post. You could also quite legitimately share it in the weekly exercise thread. I'm sure Negin would back you on it, right Negin? :smilielol5:

[shukriyya]

There is also the question of which form to even request the book in -- ebook , where no one else will know exactly what I am reading ;) or traditional, where chunky books may "look" great but are very heavy.........These are the problems that can be discussed on BaW that no one else will ever understand.

Also the fact that I can't tell someone else that I spent an utterly satisfying 20 minutes or so sorting the 30 or so physical library books that I have on hand last night into many categories like: part of a series and waiting for the first , probable hold by others so should seriously read, preread for Dd or Ds and need to stay ahead, and finally an " oooh! can't wait" pile. Here the question is more apt to be "what is in your ___ pile" not "why do you have 30 books checked out." Love being able to talk to other compulsive library people. :)

There is just so much to like about this post with its intimate understanding of the intricate and sometimes compulsive inner landscape we BaWers must navigate :lol:

[shukriyya]

Once again I post in the dark, in bed from the iPad. What is with the choppy sleep these days??? I read till 2 last night! Not because what I was reading, 'The Lemon Tree', was so compelling but because I just couldn't settle into sleep. Finally I turned off the light and found an old NPR 'Fresh Air' episode to listen to. And now here I am not four hrs later contemplating the day as the sound of rain surrounds me. Can anyone relate?

On the bookish front I am dipping my toe into the idea of starting to review some of the books I read. Might be nice to have a little journal of what one liked or didn't, why and why not. I always appreciate reading the various reviews posted here or on GR or Amazon.

[Just Robyn]

Well I've never heard of zombie lit. Is just stories with zombies as protagonists? What is the appeal? What makes them special?

 

 

One appealing aspect of zombie novels is that in such an event - a zombie apocalypse - the current power structures are broken down, making room for "regular people" to finally shine and live off their own wits instead of spending most of their hours doing meaningless work for less than a living wage. Also, your main problems are now things you can get rid of with an ax.

 

Cops will no longer harass you and charge you with crimes you didn't commit. You can now live without fear of them. Most of the time, the people trying to ruin your life are now zombies, so you can kill them instead of just taking it. There are still many more of them than there are of you, but they're not organized and don't have guns.

 

People who are paid and keep much more money than they need no longer have an advantage. In the beginning, they can throw money at the problem by building up a supply of food inside their house and putting up - I don't know - extra strong walls or something. But eventually, even these people will have to go outside and find food. (Unless perhaps they started a great garden early on and are okay with a vegan diet?)

 

In the case of a zombie apocalypse, you lose your safety and modern conveniences (including health care, which I wouldn't really call just a convenience I could do without), but you get freedom. 

 

 - I have read World War Z, Boneshaker and Zone One and the first twelve Walking Dead graphic novels. I think that's it for zombies. IMO, WWZ and the Walking Dead graphic novels were great. The other two were good.

[Mom-ninja.]

I want that sweat shirt!

[shukriyya]

Also, your main problems are now things you can get rid of with an ax.

Most of the time, the people trying to ruin your life are now zombies,

But eventually, even these people will have to go outside and find food. (Unless perhaps they started a great garden early on and are okay with a vegan diet?)

In the case of a zombie apocalypse, you lose your safety and modern conveniences (including health care, which I wouldn't really call just a convenience I could do without), but you get freedom.

I think that's it for zombies.

:smilielol5: Your whole post...again just so much to like here, but the above quotes in particular...and so succinctly wrapping it up. Snort. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me :D Who knew?!

[Angel]

I finished listening to The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan Monday morning on the way to co-op.  I have read all of the Percy Jackson books at the request of dd13 and was catching up on the second series so I can pre-read the latest book (still angry that it is necessary to preview it but I won't rant about it again).  This is only the second audio book I've ever listened to all the way through.  I'm not much of an auditory person.  Percy Jackson certainly isn't great literature and is a little trite and cheesy at times, but I did enjoy the first series.  I thought I was enjoying the second series, but now I'm wondering. Could it be that listening is different than reading?  Could it be that the reader's interpretation of the voices did not match mine?  Could it be that hearing it read aloud made certain negative aspects pop out?  (I mean really, how many times do we have to hear the word "boyfriend" or "girlfriend?"  We know that they are.)  I thought that this book was all about the "couples" and less about the actual quest/storyline.  There were many times I just wanted him to get on with the real story.  This book would have been better with some trimming.  I would give it a grudging 2 stars more for the continuation of the story than anything else.  I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it. At least I didn't waste time actually slogging through it with the physical book in my hand.  I'm afraid I would have still been at it.  

 

*1 – The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs (Isarel)

*2 – Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans (USA)

*3 – The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (Dusty, Narnia)

*4 – Michael Vey:  The Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans (USA/Peru)

*5 – Soulless by Gail Carriger (England, BaW rec)

*6 – Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley (England)

*7 – A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (12^th Century, England/Wales,BaW rec)

*8 – Michael Vey: Battle of the Ampere by Richard Paul Evans (Peru)

*9 - Divergent by Veronica Roth (USA)

*10 - Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett (Turkey, 11th/12th Century, Dusty Book)

*11 – Austenland by Shannon Hale (England, Dusty Book)

*12 – The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (Narnia)

*13 – Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger (England, BaW rec)

*14 – The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Narnia)

*15 – Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury (England)

*16 – Imprudent Lady by Joan Smith (England, BaW rec)

*17 – Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland (Denmark, 9^th Century)

*18 - The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (audiobook) (USA/Italy)

[Stacia]

...

[mumto2]

Once again I post in the dark, in bed from the iPad. What is with the choppy sleep these days??? I read till 2 last night! Not because what I was reading, 'The Lemon Tree', was so compelling but because I just couldn't settle into sleep. Finally I turned off the light and found an old NPR 'Fresh Air' episode to listen to. And now here I am not four hrs later contemplating the day as the sound of rain surrounds me. Can anyone relate?

On the bookish front I am dipping my toe into the idea of starting to review some of the books I read. Might be nice to have a little journal of what one liked or didn't, why and why not. I always appreciate reading the various reviews posted here or on GR or Amazon.

I would love reading your reviews if you plan to add them to Goodreads etc.  

 

I am also having sleep issues so I understand.  It is odd because I am frequently the first to bed in our house due to exhaustion.  I sleep a couple of hours and  wake up when dh comes to bed.  For awhile I thought it was due to my being disturbed but I don't seem to fall asleep at all when I stay up later so I miss the two hours of good sound sleep I might have had.  Can't seem to win.  I spend much of the night trying to quietly entertain myself.  I am so thankful for kindle library books but I try not to put anything too compelling  on it lately.

[Stacia]

...

[JennW in SoCal]

One appealing aspect of zombie novels is that in such an event - a zombie apocalypse - the current power structures are broken down, making room for "regular people" to finally shine and live off their own wits instead of spending most of their hours doing meaningless work for less than a living wage. Also, your main problems are now things you can get rid of with an ax.

 

 

In Southern California of course, the zombies are much more laid back.  Here for example, the zombies are peacefully marching downtown, letting the cops in charge keep things under control... 

 

 

 

(This is the annual zombie walk during Comic-Con where 500 or so zombies gather and march outside the convention center.  My husband got stuck in this last year -- took him an hour to get out of downtown!  He said it was pretty entertaining, all in all!)

[Just Robyn]

In a way, this sounds so very Henry David Thoreau-ish & Walden-ish.

 

The simple life, you know.

 

 

 

Actually, I was thinking of Walden when I wrote it! I almost said: 

 

But eventually, even these people will have to go outside and find food. (Unless perhaps they started a great garden early on - or a not-so-great garden but they're okay with just eating potatoes like at Walden Pond -  and are okay with a vegan diet?)

 

but my sentence was going to end up too complicated, and I didn't feel like taking the time to find a better way to squeeze it in there.

[shukriyya]

In Southern California of course, the zombies are much more laid back.  Here for example, the zombies are peacefully marching downtown, letting the cops in charge keep things under control... 

 

:lol:

 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, BaWers... <ahem>

 

Yet another reason to lift heavy piles of library books on a regular basis. You want to build those arm muscles so you can effectively wield an ax, whether chopping wood with Thoreau or clearing zombies from your little patch of land....

 

 

 

 

In a way, this sounds so very Henry David Thoreau-ish & Walden-ish.

 

The simple life, you know.

 

:smilielol5:

 

Wow. Only here would I have ever associated

 

and

 

This has totally given me a fit of the giggles this morning!
 

 

Me too. What is it about that sentence?

 

"Also, your main problems are now things you can get rid of with an ax."

 

Quite apart from its bizarre reality I think it's the use of the word 'also' followed by a comma :smilielol5:

 

My experience is being made all the more surreal by Johnny Cash's 'My Mother's Hymnal' as our background music this morning, ds's choice. The smell of eggs cooking permeates the atmosphere while the rain falls and the zombies reign supreme with the BaWers.

[Stacia]

...

[shukriyya]

Actually, I was thinking of Walden when I wrote it! I almost said: 

 

But eventually, even these people will have to go outside and find food. (Unless perhaps they started a great garden early on - or a not-so-great garden but they're okay with just eating potatoes like at Walden Pond -  and are okay with a vegan diet?)

 

but my sentence was going to end up too complicated, and I didn't feel like taking the time to find a better way to squeeze it in there.

 

Does anyone know if Zombies are paleo? 'Cause if they are the potatoes won't work for them. Just sayin' :lol:
 

[shukriyya]

I would love reading your reviews if you plan to add them to Goodreads etc.  

 

I am also having sleep issues so I understand.  It is odd because I am frequently the first to bed in our house due to exhaustion.  I sleep a couple of hours and  wake up when dh comes to bed.  For awhile I thought it was due to my being disturbed but I don't seem to fall asleep at all when I stay up later so I miss the two hours of good sound sleep I might have had.  Can't seem to win.  I spend much of the night trying to quietly entertain myself.  I am so thankful for kindle library books but I try not to put anything too compelling  on it lately.

 

I know I should offer hugs and I do but it's your refined phrase 'quietly entertain' that has me chuckling. But then I seem to be easily amused this morning. Too bad we couldn't coordinate a middle of the night cuppa across continents :D I'll think of you next time my night involves spanning the widening darkness while awake.

[Jane in NC]

I know I should offer hugs and I do but it's your refined phrase 'quietly entertain' that has me chuckling. But then I seem to be easily amused this morning. Too bad we couldn't coordinate a middle of the night cuppa across continents :D I'll think of you next time my night involves spanning the widening darkness while awake.

 

Across time zones too.

[shukriyya]

Across time zones too.

 

A minor detail :smilielol5:

[Stacia]

Does anyone know if Zombies are paleo? 'Cause if they are the potatoes won't work for them. Just sayin' :lol:
 

I think the potatoes were for the humans trying to hold out during a zombie siege.... You (as a non-zombie human) probably need the carbs anyway for extra bursts of ax-wielding power when the zombies break your protective barriers....

 

shukriyya, honey, you said you know little to nothing about zombies & you have so much to learn...

 

Here's a good website to start you off:

4 Books to Read in a Zombie Apocalypse

 

(Though I, personally, would read them BEFORE the apocalypse. I don't think I could concentrate on reading what with a bunch of zombies moaning around....)

 

;) :p :lol:

[shukriyya]

I think the potatoes were for the humans trying to hold out during a zombie siege.... You (as a non-zombie human) probably need the carbs anyway for extra bursts of ax-wielding power when the zombies break your protective barriers....

 

shukriyya, honey, you said you know little to nothing about zombies & you have so much to learn...

 

Here's a good website to start you off:

4 Books to Read in a Zombie Apocalypse

 

(Though I, personally, would read them BEFORE the apocalypse. I don't think I could concentrate on reading what with a bunch of zombies moaning around....)

 

;) :p :lol:

 

:lol:

 

Such a helpful bunch, this group of BaWers ;)
 

[shukriyya]

Okay of the four books listed the last one looks to be the most practical ::

 

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Okay of the four books listed the last one looks to be the most practical ::

 

 

If you are worried only about survival and not so much about the background into zombies, this is the book for you. None of the boring background crap, just the goods to tell you what you need, how to do it, and how to protect yourself.

 

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack 

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

 

I found #4 to be the most pertinent to this morning's discussion.  "Blades (as in ax blades) don't need reloading." 

[Stacia]

...

[Kareni]

I read and enjoyed the contemporary romance Undone (A Country Roads Novel) by Shannon Richard.  I'll be on the lookout for the sequels.

 

"Things Paige Morrison will never understand about Mirabelle, Florida:

Why wearing red shoes makes a girl a harlot
Why a shop would ever sell something called "buck urine"
Why everywhere she goes, she runs into sexy-and infuriating-Brendan King

After losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, Paige has no choice but to leave Philadelphia and move in with her retired parents. For an artsy outsider like Paige, finding her place in the tightly knit town isn't easy-until she meets Brendan, the hot mechanic who's interested in much more than Paige's car. In no time at all, Brendan helps Paige find a new job, new friends, and a happiness she wasn't sure she'd ever feel again. With Brendan by her side, Paige finally feels like she can call Mirabelle home. But when a new bombshell drops, will the couple survive, or will their love come undone?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

And for those who like a little classics with their zombie lit...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies :eek: Jane Austen fans shield yourselves from the travesty...

[Stacia]

A little literary fun for you...

 

18 Famous Literary First Lines Perfectly Paired With Rap Lyrics

 

:lol:

 

For example:

 

3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge/J. Cole

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Pay dues like a hair salon
(“Kubla Khan”and “The Last Stretch”)

 

Or, for our Woolf pack on here:

 

10. Virginia Woolf/Wale

Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself
Fall in love with defeat, throw my endeavors on the shelf
(Mrs. Dalloway and “The Artistic Integrity”)

 

And the idea of Hemingway with a mix tape tickles my fancy...

 

1. Ernest Hemingway/Wale

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff
With an impending mixtape that only seems like a myth
(The Old Man and The Sea and “New Soul”)

 

[Stacia]

And for those who like a little classics with their zombie lit...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies :eek: Jane Austen fans shield yourselves from the travesty...

 

I knew there were some like these...

http://quirkbooks.com/book-categories/quirk-classics

 

(Haven't read any of them though.)

[Onceuponatime]

I've finished The Incident at Badamya. It was a satisfying story with my favorite elements and no jarring notes. Now I think I will try to finish Looking at Philosophy. Even its lightness is beginning to feel heavy. I begin to wonder what these people actually *DID* with their lives, other than ponder things we can never know for sure. Did they have gardens, did they lecture their children, did they like chocolate too much, were they nice, or nasty?

[Shawneinfl]

One appealing aspect of zombie novels is that in such an event - a zombie apocalypse - the current power structures are broken down, making room for "regular people" to finally shine and live off their own wits instead of spending most of their hours doing meaningless work for less than a living wage. Also, your main problems are now things you can get rid of with an ax.

 

Cops will no longer harass you and charge you with crimes you didn't commit. You can now live without fear of them. Most of the time, the people trying to ruin your life are now zombies, so you can kill them instead of just taking it. There are still many more of them than there are of you, but they're not organized and don't have guns.

 

People who are paid and keep much more money than they need no longer have an advantage. In the beginning, they can throw money at the problem by building up a supply of food inside their house and putting up - I don't know - extra strong walls or something. But eventually, even these people will have to go outside and find food. (Unless perhaps they started a great garden early on and are okay with a vegan diet?)

 

In the case of a zombie apocalypse, you lose your safety and modern conveniences (including health care, which I wouldn't really call just a convenience I could do without), but you get freedom. 

 

 - I have read World War Z, Boneshaker and Zone One and the first twelve Walking Dead graphic novels. I think that's it for zombies. IMO, WWZ and the Walking Dead graphic novels were great. The other two were good.

 

Okay, don't tell any of my irl friends but I'm reading the zombie book...and liking it.     :blush:
 

[mumto2]

Okay, don't tell any of my irl friends but I'm reading the zombie book...and liking it.     :blush:
 

That's why I love to put my paranormal s on kindle.  No one knows what I am reading.  :lol:

[shukriyya]

I knew there were some like these...

http://quirkbooks.com/book-categories/quirk-classics

 

(Haven't read any of them though.)

 

Yep, it appears to be quite a genre...Mansfield Park and the Mummies, Emma and the Werewolves, Little Vampire Women, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, Jane Slayre, and my personal fave, title-wise, The Undead World of Oz... :smilielol5:

[Jane in NC]

Yep, it appears to be quite a genre...Mansfield Park and the Mummies, Emma and the Werewolves, Little Vampire Women, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, Jane Slayre, and my personal fave, title-wise, The Undead World of Oz... :smilielol5:

 

My son adored Pride and Prejudice and Zombies when it came out in '09.  But he fifteen or sixteen at the time--perfect adolescent kind of book.  He also recommends another by the author Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter.  Of the books in the genre, he said that he thought I might actually like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  I have no idea why.  PPZ fulfilled whatever zombie quotient I had. 

[shukriyya]

My son adored Pride and Prejudice and Zombies when it came out in '09.  But he fifteen or sixteen at the time--perfect adolescent kind of book.  He also recommends another by the author Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter.  Of the books in the genre, he said that he thought I might actually like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  I have no idea why.  PPZ fulfilled whatever zombie quotient I had. 

 

I might be inclined to read the bolded for the bizarrely fantastic juxtaposition of the title alone...

[mumto2]

My son adored Pride and Prejudice and Zombies when it came out in '09.  But he fifteen or sixteen at the time--perfect adolescent kind of book.  He also recommends another by the author Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter.  Of the books in the genre, he said that he thought I might actually like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  I have no idea why.  PPZ fulfilled whatever zombie quotient I had. 

I actually really liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer  :blush:  :blush:  Apparently I can do emoticons on my new fire.  Fun! :hurray:  I prefer the old one but it won't let me post on WTM anymore although everything else works.  Anyway after I got used to the vampire additions it was a good.

 

I have thought about some of the others but have stayed away because of zombies.  The concept is something that I would need to adjust to in mass.  An occasional necromancer scene I can handle.

 

ETA  I see my slayer as opposed to hunter slip. :lol:  I loved Buffy which explains it!

[shukriyya]

I actually really liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer  :blush:  :blush:  Apparently I can do emoticons on my new fire.  Fun! :hurray:  I prefer the old one but it won't let me post on WTM anymore although everything else works.  Anyway after I got used to the vampire additions it was a good.

 

I have thought about some of the others but have stayed away because of zombies.  The concept is something that I would need to adjust to in mass.  An occasional necromancer scene I can handle.

 

ETA  I see my slayer as opposed to hunter slip. :lol:  I loved Buffy which explains it!

 

I've memorized some fave emoticon html to use on my ipad. Nothing like relevant emoticons :thumbup:

 

On another note, your new Fire...how do you like it? Do you read with it? Surf? Game? Movie watch? Thinking in that direction for other family members but have to do a bit more research...
 

[mumto2]

I've memorized some fave emoticon html to use on my ipad. Nothing like relevant emoticons :thumbup:

 

On another note, your new Fire...how do you like it? Do you read with it? Surf? Game? Movie watch? Thinking in that direction for other family members but have to do a bit more research...
 

 

 The problems with the fire started the day before we left the States so Dh picked up a new one at the same time he had Dd on her TI 84 quest.  I have the cheaper, $80 I think, version.  The dc's have the same model.  I use mine mainly for reading and surfing.  The dc's use their fires tons.  Everything from Coursera courses, including the papers, to basic programming.  Lots of games and programming for games.  Dd chooses to use her pretty exclusively and has been submitting some pretty technical chemistry and calculus problem sets successfully. While we do watch things on our fires but Dh has an hd that is a bit larger and nicer for viewing imo.  In terms of streaming they work great assuming decent internet.  My old one had some serious problems with that aspect always. The hd may be a bit more responsive in general but I seem to have an incredible number of " did not mean to touch that " moments when I use it so far happier with my older new to me technology. 

[shukriyya]

Any Moominland lovers here? We have several of her books and enjoy them greatly. This looks like fun and loveliness.

[shukriyya]

Robert Frost, poet and novice martial artist, born on this day. This is an amusing little interchange...

[Jane in NC]

I have never read anything quite like Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's book of short stories, Autobiography of a Corpse.  While they are stories, each feels like some sort of ontological exercise. 

 

If I were to say that a book is not a book for wimps, would you conclude that there is some sort of violent aspect to it?  Well don't.  Krzhizhanovsky is not for wimps and violence does not enter the picture. This author asks his readers deep and fundamental philosophical questions that left my head spinning.

 

These short stories have moments of whimsy (a pianist's runaway fingers for example) but we come back repeatedly to wondering what it means to exist, what is this thing called "I", we analyze dialectics, we see simple acts reduced to metaphysical statements, we examine the nuance of language and then of course we have political philosophy... The author wrote about his work:  “I am interested not in the arithmetic, but in the algebra.”

 

We would probably be more familiar with Krzhizhanovsky's brilliance if Soviet censors had been more accommodating.  He is now compared stylistically to Borges; influences on his writing include Poe, Hoffmann and Swift. 

 

I guess we call him Russian although Krzhizhanovsky's parents were Polish and he grew up in Ukraine where he attended Kiev University, studying law and classical philology.  Later he became a lecturer on theater.  I envision his deep pockets weighed down by Kant's Critique of Pure Reason or Hegel's Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences no matter where he went.

 

[shukriyya]

What a wonderful review, Jane. Did you find answers to your questions or did you find more questions to your questions? If the latter that might be a book for me. The older I get the less I want answers, the less I 'believe' answers and the more I am drawn to ambiguity, to the wide grey body of water that sloshes so happily and hugely between the narrow swaths of black and white.

[Kareni]

I haven't read it, but I like the title of this book published in 2008 (now out of print).

 

Women Who Read are Dangerous by  Stefan Bollman and Karen Joy Fowler

 

It had previously been published as Reading Women; there are some pleasant reviews at the Amazon page.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

What a wonderful review, Jane. Did you find answers to your questions or did you find more questions to your questions?
 

 

 

Absolutely no answers and many paradoxes.  I should probably read his novel The Letter Killers Club.  Interesting review here.
 

[shukriyya]

Absolutely no answers and many paradoxes.  I should probably read his novel The Letter Killers Club.  Interesting review here.
 

 

That was a seriously fantastic and fascinating review...the author, Jacob Emery, can write!

 

In The Letter Killers Club, Krzhizhanovsky describes a copy of the Gospels scored in the margin whenever Christ refrains from speech—“Jesus held his peace” and so on. Inscribed in the flyleaf of this apocryphal “Gospel According to Silence,” is the quasi-authorial inscription S—um: a “nonsense syllable,” as one of the characters calls it, but then all the book’s characters are storytellers with nonsense syllables for names—Rar, Zez, Fev. And this particular syllable is the name of Tiutchev’s poem, “a flattened Silentium.” In the very elision that spans the word’s initial and its suffix, the Latin word for silence proclaims the author’s being: sum, I am. In his obsession with his own obscurity, Krzhizhanovksy discovers a fecund, expressive aesthetics of self-effacement.

 

Swooning over the well-articulated bolded above.

 

For Krzhizhanovsky, the penetration of vision into the world becomes emblematic of fiction’s aim—as the novel’s narrator exults on the final page—to “break out of my orbit and step out of my ‘I’!” (111). Orbit here carries its ocular meaning as the eyesocket as well as its astronomical sense, and is thematically related to a larger debate over whether a work of art suffers by obscurity or finds its uncompromising perfection in isolation—whether a stage play needs an “outside pair of eyes” or whether a performer ought rather to “gouge them out” (18-19). His story “In the Pupil” is entirely motivated by the narrator observing his reflection in his lover’s eye as he bends down to kiss her: this diminutive image is lured down the optic nerve into the woman’s brain to join the homunculi of her other forgotten lovers, and after many adventures absconds back to the narrator with the leather-bound volume of the woman’s memory. An exchange of glances precipitates a fantastic exchange of consciousnesses.

 

Bolded calls to mind the Eastern experience of transmission through the glance, or 'darshan' which is fascinating given the context. Thank you for sharing this link, Jane. Horizons have been expanded. I wonder if my library will have any of his work.  
 

[Jane in NC]

Thank you for sharing this link, Jane. Horizons have been expanded. I wonder if my library will have any of his work.  
 

 

My library only has the one book but that review twisted my arm.  A couple of things have been accumulating in my Amazon cart so I decided to add The Letter Killers Club and place an order. 
 

[shukriyya]

He he, I've been trolling the caverns of Amazon as well dragging my little cart behind me which now has, among other things, a copy of 'Autobiography of a Corpse' and 'The Letter Killers' in it as my library has neither. However dinner calls so it's more likely that I will abandon my cart somewhere in cyber space to return to at a later date.

[Stacia]

I have never read anything quite like Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's book of short stories, Autobiography of a Corpse.  While they are stories, each feels like some sort of ontological exercise. 

 

If I were to say that a book is not a book for wimps, would you conclude that there is some sort of violent aspect to it?  Well don't.  Krzhizhanovsky is not for wimps and violence does not enter the picture. This author asks his readers deep and fundamental philosophical questions that left my head spinning.

 

These short stories have moments of whimsy (a pianist's runaway fingers for example) but we come back repeatedly to wondering what it means to exist, what is this thing called "I", we analyze dialectics, we see simple acts reduced to metaphysical statements, we examine the nuance of language and then of course we have political philosophy... The author wrote about his work:  “I am interested not in the arithmetic, but in the algebra.”

 

We would probably be more familiar with Krzhizhanovsky's brilliance if Soviet censors had been more accommodating.  He is now compared stylistically to Borges; influences on his writing include Poe, Hoffmann and Swift. 

 

I guess we call him Russian although Krzhizhanovsky's parents were Polish and he grew up in Ukraine where he attended Kiev University, studying law and classical philology.  Later he became a lecturer on theater.  I envision his deep pockets weighed down by Kant's Critique of Pure Reason or Hegel's Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences no matter where he went.

 

Great review, Jane. Sounds like something I might really love. Will have to look for it....
 

[LostSurprise]

Any Moominland lovers here? We have several of her books and enjoy them greatly. This looks like fun and loveliness.

 

The Summer Book....loveliness.