Week 52

I must make 1 post--I haven't missed a year since this began.

This hardly has the termitic qualities of a branded space, but I still feel each post must abide by the unspoken but obvious characteristics of its predecessors. I watch many movies, but have increasingly little to say about them. I now read frequently but find little of the particular quality necessary for a good piece. What is there to express? Do I hold a eulogy? When I read a physical book it's hard not to feel how old-fashioned and out-of-date the experience is.. I used to have intense experiences at the movies.. Now only one in a blue moon.
 
The next step is listing the books I read this year (and at the end of 2020) and force out a statement or two for each.

The reading schism was when I got my Kobo and started reading that. The first book on there was Alberto Moravia's Agustino (e-copy), which is about a school boy, his hot mother, and their summer adventures. It's a book which clearly has that immutable quality of great literature that frustratingly can only be stumbled upon. Next I read another Modiano: In the Cafe of Lost Youth (e-copy). It didn't hit like the Occupation trilogy books, but it's still covered with that melancholic feeling of the imagined Paris. Next I read Dublinesque (e-copy), a story about an over-the-hill publisher who spirals away in his obsession with Irish writers. It was similar to the weird Aira coffee-shop essay books, but not quite as harsh, and more showy with its references. Then finally anther Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (e-copy), the experience of which I admit was a bit less than satistying. Like, I should have reread each page at least twice to understand a little more. The language still runs through well anyway. I had the same experience reading a couple pages of Mason and Dixon. I may be a few years of prerequisites away. Next I dipped into genre fiction with Dune (e-copy). The political intrigue in the beginning is really what stood out. Tablesetting, when drawn out, can be a real pleasure. The appendix written by Liet "The Ecology of Dune" had a wonderful anonymity. Next, another Modiano, Ring Roads (e-copy). There are no cowards like Modiano's cowards. This dive into genre fiction seems really silly as I think about this one. Next, continuing A Song of Ice and Fire with A Storm of Swords (paperback). Hard to talk about Martin, reading each chapter is just a mild pleasure--a cup of tea. Next I trudged through Stephen King's The Stand (paperback). It was a mistake to pick one of his longer ones. I was bored for nearly all of this, but it's hard to hate something after spending so many months with it. It was also nice to have a book fall into increasingly severe disrepair as I went through it. Next A Feast For Crows (paperback), another Martin. Next Ball Four (paperback), which, though a bad decision, still led to that sought-after church-sermon boredom, which is always fruitful in the grand scheme. Next I dipped into hard sci-fi with Neuromancer. These genre fiction books suck you in with the first 30 pages, then leave you wincing for the rest. Then Camus' The Fall (paperback), which I only enjoyed when in a twisted mood. Finally air again with Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories (paperback). The romance I'd been looking for all along. Next a western from Zane Grey called 30,000 on the Hoof (paperback). It's hard not to love something with regular meandering physical description. It's a bit sad to read something chopped up so badly though. Maybe I'll push through the longer version some day. No more to list, unless I make an unexpected push in the next week.