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peter

hemminger@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

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peter's books

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finished reading Through the woods by Emily Carroll

Emily Carroll: Through the woods (2014, Margaret K. McElderry Books) 4 stars

Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic …

I definitely see the appeal—Victorian/Edwardian* ghost stories with a more contemporary, weird edge—and if I hadn't started with A Guest in the House I probably would be giving this more praise. But Carroll's newer work is just so much more sophisticated, in its artwork and in its narrative, that I couldn't help being a little disappointed with this. More a testament to her growth as an artist than a criticism of this one, which is still worth a read, just not one I'd likely go out of my way to recommend.

*I shouldn't guess at eras, it's really not something I know much about. Let's just call it an era with both untamed wilderness and frilly garments.

Emily Carroll: A Guest in the House (Hardcover, 2023, Roaring Brook Press, First Second) 2 stars

Fantastic. Atmospheric and unpredictable, beautifully blending the mundane and the phantasmagorical. Carroll's artwork is exquisite, overtly on the pages where fantasy takes over, and more subtly in the dollops of colour that leak into the real world, especially when thinking of those in light of the ending. I love how unconstrained she is by panels or rigid structures; the story art seems so much more organic when it's allowed however much room it needs.

Not a traditional haunted house story and that's absolutely for the best. I never settled into a sense of knowing just what kind of story this was, and on the rare moments I did, whatever expectations I did have were nicely subverted. It's unusual for an ending to reframe so much of what came before, with nothing contrived or forced about it. That'll sit with me, for sure.

When reading something like this, I'm often struck …

finished reading Mind MGMT by Matt Kindt

Matt Kindt: Mind MGMT (Paperback, 2019, Dark Horse Comics) 4 stars

This globe-spanning tale of espionage explores the adventures of a journalist investigating the mystery of …

Very much appreciated the density of this, and the effort of the watercoloured artwork (although I worry a bit when density and effort are the first things I think to compliment). Kindt presents an absurdly intricate world with its own intuitive (or at least intuitable) logic, and while it sometimes can seem too multilayered for its own good, it generally manages to keep the story as the central focus. Never quite attains the mystic highs of something like Invisibles—despite its focus on altering minds, I wouldn't quite call this psychedelic—but there's a unique world, unique art, interesting use of the medium, and a story that doesn't strain to fill a half-dozen trades. It more than justifies a read, in other words.

Algernon Blackwood: The Wendigo (2002, Wildside Press) 4 stars

Not as atmospheric or as haunting as The Willows, but memorable in its own right, especially if you can set aside the of-its-time racism that crops up a couple of times in the opening chapter. Mostly, it's Défago's oddly poetic cries that will stick with me, the rest of the story being fairly boilerplate weird fiction—but one phrase sticking with me is really all I ask for.

finished reading Handover by David Runciman

Having listened to many hours of Runciman's podcasts, it's always a treat seeing how well his voice translates into his writing—approachable, inquisitive, and authoritative in equal parts. The conception of states and corporations as artificial agents is an interesting thread he's been pursuing since at least How Democracy Ends, and is a helpful framing for thinking about how much agency we've already handed off to non-human entities, even before bringing AI into the mix. It's always good to remember that there's a big difference between "novel" and "unprecedented," and there's almost always a historical context worth learning from.

Frederic Gros: A Philosophy of Walking (2015) 3 stars

Some beautiful moments, others that didn’t resonate as much, and others that made me angry based solely on how much they made me want to be out walking in a field or in dark woods but it’s the middle of winter and I’m stuck at work in whatever limited daylight hours we get in this silly northern latitude. A nice book to wrap the year with, in any case.

Jaime Green: Possibility of Life (2023, Harlequin Enterprises ULC) 5 stars

This is beside the point, but—it is so refreshing to read an accessible non-fiction book that doesn't feel the need to work in memoir, and just trusts that its subject matter is interesting enough. Because it is. The balance of science and philosophy and pop culture musings makes this a light read, but never talking down to its audience, and aims for hope and inspiration. I stumbled across this in a Little Free Library, and am glad I did—a nice optimistic note for closing out 2023.

Naomi Klein: Doppelganger (2023, Farrar, Straus & Giroux) 5 stars

What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self—a double who …

A broken mirror

No rating

I think I wanted this to be something slightly different than what it was—less on Wolfe and contemporary politics, and more on the concept of doubling, more abstract and literary, less political. It has elements of both, and autobiography in a way that seems quite new (and welcome) for Klein, so more an issue of proportion than of kind. As it is, I found this interesting in the moment but didn’t find a lot to take away with me.

Yanis Varoufakis: Technofeudalism (2023, Random House Children's Books) 4 stars

In his boldest and most far-reaching book yet, world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism …

What’s worse than capitalism

No rating

Seems largely accurate in describing a world where technological rents have overtaken profit as the drivers of economic and political power. I do think it falls into the trap of putting too much faith in the near-magical manipulative abilities of algorithms, rather than recognizing the sheer thuggishness of the tech giants as the true source of their dominance. But that’s more a disagreement on the mechanism than the result.

Anthony Appiah: The Lies That Bind (Paperback, 2019, Profile Books) 4 stars

An interesting attempt to break down identity politics by showing the shaky foundation on which the concepts of class, country, creed, colour, and culture all rest. Actually, shaky is probably an understatement given how many of the concepts were intended as weapons from the very beginning, and I always appreciate a good reminder that essentially all categories are inventions. That said, while it's easy to agree with Appiah that there are dangerously flawed assumptions at the base of all these ideas, it's harder to see how to apply that understanding in a way that doesn't translate into trying to handwave away historical and systemic injustice in favour of naive utopianism (not that Appiah is in any way advocating for that, just to be clear).

Michelle Good: Truth Telling (2023, HarperCollins Publishers) No rating

A bold, provocative examination of Canadian Indigenous issues from advocate, activist and award-winning novelist Michelle …

I appreciated the blunt, straightforward nature of this collection. Many of the essays touch on the same subjects and details in slightly different contexts, showing the far-ranging impacts of colonialist mindsets and practices. The (justified) anger that comes through in the essays isn't the easiest emotion to sit with, but that's probably a sign that it's all the more important to try.

finished reading Hieroglyphics by Arthur Machen

Arthur Machen: Hieroglyphics (Hardcover, 2007, Kessinger Publishing, LLC) 4 stars

An interesting take on the distinction between high and low art (specifically literature), although it really belabours its point. I agree with Machen on the idea that art is something beyond skillfullness and possibly even beyond intentionality, tapping into something that we can't express in more straightforward ways. He does digress into a few literary grudges, and I'm not sure I fully follow the "all art is Catholic" argument (which he emphasizes and walks back in pretty equal measure), but... there's definitely some truth in here.

Cory Doctorow: Red Team Blues (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 4 stars

Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to …

Propulsive stuff, and an interesting read as always for Doctorow. I enjoyed how the detective is basically a more polite, more well-adjusted version of a Chandler or Hammett detective, still a bit inscrutable, still very adept at manipulating others (or at least of managing them in moments of crisis) but with more empathy, more enjoyment of life, and less nihilism than the classic detective story. Pulpy and thoughtful.