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Ooooo, I'll have to check that out!

I bailed on Tom’s Crossing after ~200 pages. It’s actually pretty good but so fucking long and I just wanted to get on to other stuff. I will probably pick it up in chunks. The audiobook comes out next month and I think it probably lends itself to that format.

I am currently reading Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and it’s pretty great. I did not expect it to be so mythical but I am along for the ride.

My book of the year for 2025 is DEFINITELY Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. IDK how I slept on it for so long. It’s short, emotional, great prose and the ending is just a gut punch.

turnbullac wrote: Sun Dec 28, 2025 6:44 pm
My book of the year for 2025 is DEFINITELY Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. IDK how I slept on it for so long. It’s short, emotional, great prose and the ending is just a gut punch.

Been meaning to read this cuz I read about it in some magazine recently.

I got a copy of Catch 22 for Christmas. About to read it. Always wanted to.

The Aeneid
The storm on the sea in the first song is cool and filmic.

The Eye of the World : Robert Jordan
Hm... The writing isn't really bad but at the same time after finishing a chapter it feels like all the words were just taking up space.

Where the Wind Calls Home : Samar Yazbek
^ which is certainly not the case with this one.

The White Steamship : Chingiz Aitmatov
^ or this one. Giving too much of my thoughts would spoil it, but it's about people who have the power to cause harm and other people who lack the power to prevent it, and about people who insist, through fear or complacency, on demeaning and diminishing conditions.

cakes wrote: Sun Dec 28, 2025 10:06 pm I got a copy of Catch 22 for Christmas. About to read it. Always wanted to.

It’s as good as they say - definitely set me off on a path straight to Pynchon when I was younger.

Dovira wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 9:28 am ...The Eye of the World : Robert Jordan
Hm... The writing isn't really bad but at the same time after finishing a chapter it feels like all the words were just taking up space....

Good critique. I read the first 4 or 5 of those in the mid 90's and had to give up, partly because the series wasn't finished yet but mostly because he is so long winded. The last one I read was hundreds of pages but only like 3 days go by in the narrative. I was all fuck this. Too many references of Nynaeve being annoyed with the boys and furrowing her brows. The characters are thin and stereotypical. Jordan's writing talents would be better utilized as an ancient war historian. His interest in war and it's tools always struck me as what he was most interested in writing about.

The collected works of Jane Bowles. Her novel, Two Serious Ladies (droll, weird, enchanting, and slightly sad; totally recommended if you like dialog-driven fiction w/o much plot), her short stories (mixed bag), and her letters (a bit of a slog, but I'm determined to finish them). Merry fucking Xmas.

I still need to read Jane Bowles. You've promoted me.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ay/685276/

Yay Jodi Ess!