Whatcha reading?

[Sparky]

Reading related, I thought this video was pretty cool.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peoplea ... 80f&ei=105

[Dr. Medulla]

Reading related, I thought this video was pretty cool.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peoplea ... 80f&ei=105

It reminds of a really old Supergirl story. The campus library was getting a new building and so to move the books, Supergirl's civilian identity got all the students to sign out ten books and return them to the new one.

[Dr. Medulla]

Finished the Starkweather book. Unless you have no real knowledge of the story, I can't recommend it. It's basically a lengthy podcast. There's lots of detail but deeply deficient in why, particularly why we should still care. The book's subtitle suggests that the murders changed America, but there's no exploration into that other than short references to a desire for infamy by subsequent mass killers. There's casual mention of television sensationalizing things, but no effort to go into this question in any depth. If there's a point to the book, it's to exonerate Caril Ann Fugate of any culpability, which, okay, sure (curious name for the book, then, huh?). Things take a turn to the ghoulish in the epilogue, where we get an extended discussion of the author's own loose connection to the story—he was also from Lincoln, a year older than CAF, but away at boarding school when the murders happened—and it culminates with him tracking her down in a Michigan care facility and dropping in to visit her, bring her stuff from her childhood. All of which, it seems, is to validate what he's doing because towards the end of the visit he says he's writing a book about the whole thing and will tell the world she's innocent, and she smiles. Depending on how you feel, it's self-serving or it's some satisfaction for an old woman in poor health. Anyway, the story may deserve to be told, but Maclean never persuaded me why.

Up next for audiobooks:

Phil Tinline, Ghosts of Iron Mountain. I'd never heard of this hoax until I came across a review for this book. The gist is that in the late 60s, a fake secret government report was "leaked" that concluded world peace would cause the American system of government to collapse, so war must be a permanent feature. It was anti-war satire, but it took a life of its own, contributing to anti-government conspiracy theories ever since.

[Flex]

Finished reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic. Highly recommended for, at a minimum, tepista and probably silent majority. Highly atmospheric, well, gothic horror (with a touch of lovecraftian cosmic horror sprinkled in as well) set in post-revolutionary Mexico. Really moody, good protagonist, creepy horror reveals and whatnot. Very nice prose. Best new(ish) fiction I've read in a bit. I'm gonna check out the author's other work, which includes some more horror and some sci-fi, I think.

[Dr. Medulla]

I've been listening to Lauren Oyler's No Judgement (I'm about two-thirds of the way thru), a collection of essays. Oyler's a cultural critic and novelist, and I came across discussion of it for drawing both unfavourable criticism and the author's very online persona and thin skin. So I was intrigued. And, no, it's not good. She makes me think of Chuck Klosterman in the sense that I've always gotten the impression that Klosterman likes to write (or, rather, be read) than to think hard about what he's writing. It's more musings than something meant to challenge one's thinking. Moreover, the essays have all been, fundamentally, about her, especially about her novel and its reception. It's hard not to conclude that what drives it all is a quest for status. She wants to be acknowledged as Significant, someone to be talked about as worthy of being talked about, someone whose opinions are solicited because she matters. But she really doesn't have anything compelling to say (e.g., gossip, GoodReads reviews, autofiction). There are a few nice phrases turned here and there, but there's been absolutely nothing that has poked my brain.

One of the amusing things is that while she asserts that she is a snob—she likes movies with subtitles and "difficult" literature rather than stuff that is "popular" and accessible, as she has a degree from Yale, you see—she's caught up in the dopamine rush of Twitter like any Uncle Gerry. Her essay on gossip deals a fair bit with Gawker, of which she was clearly a fan, so a claim to be an elite taste sophisticate is … strained. When she had reason to mention Byron's Don Juan and mispronounced it (she narrates the audio version) don wan, as opposed to the correct don joo-an (as in giovanni), I got an unintended bit of comedic relief. It would seem that poem wasn't covered in her classes at Yale.

Anyway, can't recommend this other than as a cautionary tale.

[Silent Majority]

Down goes Oyler! Down goes Oyler!

[Dr. Medulla]

Down goes Oyler! Down goes Oyler!

Alas, I'm not on Twitter or Instagram, nor publish in the New Yorker, so she'll never know.

[Silent Majority]

Down goes Oyler! Down goes Oyler!

Alas, I'm not on Twitter or Instagram, nor publish in the New Yorker, so she'll never know.

Her Google alerts will bring her here I'm near certain

[Dr. Medulla]

Down goes Oyler! Down goes Oyler!

Alas, I'm not on Twitter or Instagram, nor publish in the New Yorker, so she'll never know.

Her Google alerts will bring her here I'm near certain

The Oyler-Vince White venn diagram may yet come to pass.

[Flex]

Ahh, I see from her Wikipedia that she's a Yalie. Now it all makes sense.

[Silent Majority]

Ahh, I see from her Wikipedia that she's a Yalie. Now it all makes sense.

Hey Flex! Sing Fair Harvard!

[JennyB]

Ahh, I see from her Wikipedia that she's a Yalie. Now it all makes sense.

A BOORISH YALIE.

[Silent Majority]

41) Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything -Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. 2016. Audiobook. A joyful ride through the making of the show that enabled Jerry Seinfeld to keep dating women young enough to be his granddaughters. I liked this and it’s sometimes cool to surround yourself with an atmosphere of celebration, but I would have enjoyed some more poking about than we got here. I guess what I’m really in the market for is a critical biography of Larry David, the guy who is genuinely funny and interesting and therefore the opposite of his creative partner. I love the show Seinfeld and will continue to rewatch it, but, based on this read, we’ve got another fandom where I’m grossed out by the fans. The ruiners of all things good.


42) Wolfe Tone - Henry Boylan. Paperback. 1981. A short biography of the founder of modern Irish Republicanism. Well written, gives you all you need to know. In one light, this is the story of a lightweight dilettante who messed around for the majority of his short life, failed to invade the country with disorganised boating Frenchmen in terrible storms, and then was executed by the Brits. Considering the dude’s life from that perspective, I have more respect for the rebel band that took his name who at least did some good recordings early on, before their music grew limper and more sentimental. The eighteenth century Tone didn’t even record a good version of Come Out You Black and Tans, and the fact that whichever of the Behans who wrote it was more than a century away from being conceived hardly stands as an excuse in my opinion. From another perspective, he was among the martyrs and thinkers that left space for the nation builders to lay foundations upon and Tone’s writing has a modern feeling vibrancy and urgency which will have contributed to the overall process of a Republic, if we can keep it.


43) Nobody Panic: How to be a Functioning Adult Without Screaming - Tessa Coates and Stevie Martin. Audiobook. 2021. Stevie Martin (a British comic performer, not the grey haired Jerk) is someone I’ve liked since first seeing her viral videos that were discussions between her and some annoying element of modern life. She’s on the current series of Taskmaster, and I use that as an intro to comedy books that I might have missed otherwise. The subtitle is kind of stupid, but the audiobook is charming as hell, you feel like you’re spending time with two funny mates who have good advice that you already know the outlines of. Inessential, but it’ll make you smile.


44) Sourcery - Terry Pratchett. Paperback. 1988. The writing and thinking is growing, the plotting is more interesting. The jokes are the same eye-rolling groaners, but I’m always glad to see them. The imagery of a magical war is put out with no nonsense, but the imagery is really quite powerful at times.

[Dr. Medulla]

41) Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything -Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. 2016. Audiobook. A joyful ride through the making of the show that enabled Jerry Seinfeld to keep dating women young enough to be his granddaughters. I liked this and it’s sometimes cool to surround yourself with an atmosphere of celebration, but I would have enjoyed some more poking about than we got here. I guess what I’m really in the market for is a critical biography of Larry David, the guy who is genuinely funny and interesting and therefore the opposite of his creative partner. I love the show Seinfeld and will continue to rewatch it, but, based on this read, we’ve got another fandom where I’m grossed out by the fans. The ruiners of all things good.

Seinfeld was a cousin of another 90s show, Roseanne, where the writing and supporting cast was so much stronger and appealing than the star. The stars may have shaped their show's humour, but beyond that they were never the draw.

[Silent Majority]

41) Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything -Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. 2016. Audiobook. A joyful ride through the making of the show that enabled Jerry Seinfeld to keep dating women young enough to be his granddaughters. I liked this and it’s sometimes cool to surround yourself with an atmosphere of celebration, but I would have enjoyed some more poking about than we got here. I guess what I’m really in the market for is a critical biography of Larry David, the guy who is genuinely funny and interesting and therefore the opposite of his creative partner. I love the show Seinfeld and will continue to rewatch it, but, based on this read, we’ve got another fandom where I’m grossed out by the fans. The ruiners of all things good.

Seinfeld was a cousin of another 90s show, Roseanne, where the writing and supporting cast was so much stronger and appealing than the star. The stars may have shaped their show's humour, but beyond that they were never the draw.

Hell, yes, great comparison. Though, as much as I love Julia Louise Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and the early work of Michael Richards, they almost all add together to add the same value to their show as John Goodman brought to anything he did. Laurie Metcalf, too, for that matter.