genteel applause for amanda

OK! A strategy I can support, since I am wholly unfaithful. There is something about being supposed to read something that wakes my inner rebel.

I am currently (as in start-and-finish today) re-reading A Complicated Kindness. I love this book. I could be Nomi, except my rejection of religion took place a few years later than hers.

But what I'm enraptured with right now is Nomi's dad, Ray (no, not like that), because he is immobilized. And he talks about decay in a really interesting way. He says about potasium breaking down into argon, Fifty billion years to find a little stability. A molecule's worth. And since it's a novel, and nobody says things for no reason, I assume we are meant to draw analogy to a person seeking stability. He's also a fellow who rearranges the dump at night, into a system that makes sense to him. And gives away the furniture because he prefers the potentiality of what might someday fill that space.

I like how re-reading a book that you click with always gives you something more than the last time you read it. Until the last time you will read it, when you realize that you've changed enough that the book doesn't click with you.

Like, I used to get the urge to read Lord of the Rings every fall. The air would get chilly and crispy leaves underfoot, and I would be pulled to it. Something about vicarious itchy feet. But now, I don't get that urge. I don't want to head out and seek adventure anymore. So Lord of the Rings doesn't pull me.

the wine

I finished it. No, not 100 Years. The Grapes of Wrath. I am sorry my affair had to happen, but now it's over.

My god, what a book! I don't know what it is about Steinbeck, but he grabs me and won't let me go. When I'd finished, I felt much like I did when I finished reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I've never seen poverty like that with my own eyes, and I wonder who I will be when I do. People can only be ground so low before they snap. But then what happens if the snap happens amidst so much personal tragedy? Why can a rich person look at a poor person and, by their actions, say that it is enough to just keep body and soul together? Why is that allowed? Why do we allow it in ourselves and our families and our peers? In our government? In our businesses?

I think I'm not really as interested in literary criticism as I have thought. It's stories that interest me, and then only because they illuminate humanity.

fuck the wind

In honour of Anne's somewhat tardy agreement-in-principle to join this club, I choose to justify our blog address.

See... I enjoy what we'll loosely call literary criticism, but I am the last person to say that it is one of the most urgent activities of our time. It is somewhat futile since it is the activity itself, and not the product of the activity, that is most beneficial. It isn't entirely satisfying, since you turn in circles, and think cool thoughts, but you haven't really done anything. sort of like fucking the wind...

Also, I like the legend of the mustangs - that a mare was impregnated by the wind.

Also because I live in a fucking windy place.

Also because people are full of hot air.

Also because I like naughty words.

bing bang book

Ever been part of an online bookclub blog? Me neither. Here's hoping it's good.

first thing, let's choose a book.

so far, suggestions have been:

100 yrs of solitude
lullabies for little criminals
arthur & george
fingersmith

add more suggestions in the comments.

if you want to join, send me an email!