Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

You Can't Win, which for some dumb reason I hadn't read yet, despite Burroughs speaking so glowingly of it.

It's great. It's hard to believe it was written in 1926.

Reading James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere.

Bought it ages ago. Started it a while back. Have since taken care of several minor projects and loose ends. Got some time to kill now, so I'm back into it.

It's heavy stuff, dense with plotting, but never turgid or a chore to read. His sense of humor is/was very dark and I think it's safe to say several writers of note have cribbed from it.

Just finished re-reading the first three chapters of Joyce's Ulysses. I see a LOT of myself in Dedalus. I highly recommend reading these chapters in particular.

eephus wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 12:08 am You Can't Win, which for some dumb reason I hadn't read yet, despite Burroughs speaking so glowingly of it.

It's great. It's hard to believe it was written in 1926.

I read that a few years ago and found it somewhat entertaining but a little prosaic. I think maybe I lack context; was the gritty style of writing radical for the time?

It's very easy to believe it was written in 1926.

eephus wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 12:08 am You Can't Win, which for some dumb reason I hadn't read yet, despite Burroughs speaking so glowingly of it.

It's great. It's hard to believe it was written in 1926.

It's been over 25 years since I read it, and my memory is shit. I remember enjoying it but being upset with the ending. It was like he was expressing regret for everything he had done in his life, right? I recall feeling like he should have owned all that shit, good and bad. Maybe I am mis-remembering?

A Bright and Shining Lie


"Are we the baddies?"

Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad. Have never read anything by him before, my wife has a few of his novels and I just picked it off a shelf. I'm really enjoying it so far.

Mark Epstein's The Trauma of Everyday Life. It's really striking a chord in a way most Buddhist 'self-help' doesn't.

'Do you feel like everything is falling apart all the time? That's because it is.'

I'm increasingly interested in how to manage my default mode network. Any book recs on the topic would be much appreciated.