This is really just comfort food at this point...
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Bookish version of pdotb@todon.eu
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pdotb's books
2024 Reading Goal
Success! pdotb has read 115 of 52 books.
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pdotb started reading The Gate by Natsume Sōseki
The Gate by Natsume Sōseki
A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned, following years …
pdotb started reading Dracula by Roger Luckhurst
pdotb finished reading Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their misery. But they are haunted: …
pdotb reviewed Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their …
Grim
4 stars
Content warning spoilers, depression, suicide
There's a really interesting take in here -- that the horror of the monster is actually the horror of loneliness, poverty, and depression, and the associated 'deaths of despair'. The problem is that it means that fair chunks of the book are just really hard to get through, particularly if they remind one of one's own situation (and, as a (former?) Brit, it's hard for them not to). I think one of the appeals of something like Dracula is that it's just so removed from our everyday life that it's a form of escapism. Well, this is pretty much the complete opposite :( . Redeemed to some extent by the relationship between Mask and V, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't think of giving up, multiple times, not because it's badly written but because it's just so grim.
pdotb started reading Introduction to the Lotus Sutra by Yoshiro Tamura
pdotb finished reading Socially Engaged Buddhism by Sallie B. King (Dimensions of Asian spirituality)
Socially Engaged Buddhism by Sallie B. King (Dimensions of Asian spirituality)
Socially Engaged Buddhism is an introduction to the contemporary movement of Buddhists, East and West, who actively engage with the …
pdotb finished reading Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour
Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often …
pdotb reviewed Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound …
'the book is incredibly bleak'
4 stars
Funny coincidence: I finished the book last night, and then this morning was listening to Richard Seymour being interviewed on PTO, in which he described his own book as 'incredibly bleak'. While I think this characterization is true, I'm not sure it needed to be. The first couple of chapters are an interesting examination of the current political position, especially through the characters of Duterte, Modi, Bolsanaro, Orban, and, of course, Trump, while the last 'proper' chapter is a remarkably sober explanation of Israeli/Palestinian history and politics. In between, though, I felt like I was wading through a morass of incels, lone wolf shooters, and worse. Much, much worse. I'd definitely re-read the bracketing chapters for the analysis, but I'd skip the utter grimness in between :(
pdotb started reading Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their misery. But they are haunted: …
pdotb finished reading The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the …
pdotb started reading Socially Engaged Buddhism by Sallie B. King (Dimensions of Asian spirituality)
Socially Engaged Buddhism by Sallie B. King (Dimensions of Asian spirituality)
Socially Engaged Buddhism is an introduction to the contemporary movement of Buddhists, East and West, who actively engage with the …
pdotb started reading Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour
Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often …
pdotb finished reading When the Pine Needles Fall by Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel
When the Pine Needles Fall by Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel
There have been many things written about Canada’s violent siege of Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawà:ke in the summer of 1990, but …