I enjoyed The City and the City so much that I feel I owe it to myself to give him at least one more shot after failing with Last Days Of New Paris. — Noble Dust

Yeah. I just gave up on "Last Days of New Paris." It had that Mieville tornado of words and I could tell it was well put together, but it just didn't draw me in. It was a neat idea - a battle between the Nazis and the surrealists in Paris. I think it would have been fun if I were more knowledgeable about surrealist artists.

Perhaps I will go back to it another day.

It was a neat idea - a battle between the Nazis and the surrealists in Paris. — T Clark

If anything I think the concept is actually kind of pretentious. A military vs. an artistic movement is pretty on the nose. As long as other novels have concepts that are more realistic, in which to set the fantastic, I’m willing to give something a shot.

If anything I think the concept is actually kind of pretentious. — Noble Dust

I didn't think it was pretentious, but it was definitely a one joke routine. Perhaps a short story.

Perhaps a short story. — T Clark

*Thumbs up pic*

*Thumbs up pic* — Noble Dust

I think I like your riff on my thumbs up tclemoji better than the tclemoji itself.

I just learned what a tclemoji is.

I still don't know what it is.

@T Clark emoji. :roll:

T Clark emoji. :roll: — Noble Dust

The Evolution of Knowledge, RETHINKING SCIENCE FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE, by Jürgen Renn

The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch — Jamal

I liked it. It’s a short apocalyptic science fiction novel that subverts the escapism and nostalgia of cosy catastrophe by reducing the protagonists to selfish, deluded, incompetent “worms” in a world of transcendent evil. The humans, caught up in…

their own, purely human evils, were not aware of the all-pervading presence of the larger evil that lies without, which we call reality. There is evil everywhere, but we can only see what is in front of our noses, only remember what has passed through our bellies.

There is a lot of biblical allusion too, but none of it offers redemption or hope. It seems to be employed to mock religion, and to mock humanity itself.

I was wondering what made it enjoyable despite its unremitting pessimism and several disturbing scenes. I think part of it is the perverse sense of fun in trashing the facile tropes of popular post-apocalyptic fiction, which is at the same time a more general critique of human delusions. The art of its execution, and the simple thrill of subversion, are what’s enjoyable. In a pleasing dialectical twist, the artistry of the most pessimistic fiction is itself life-affirming.

That said, none of it feels so shocking and important as it probably did in 1965, it falls a bit flat in the middle (I got pretty fed up with the long section set inside the roots of the giant plant), and it’s not as experimental or interesting as I’d been led to believe by Disch’s classification as a New Wave writer. Still, I’ll read more of his work; this was his first novel.

In the Miso Soup - Ryu Murikami

Had to stop Perdido at about page 300 or so, I really liked the writing style and the city descriptions (this latter up to a point), but I found it became somewhat of a slog, in that he'll tell bits of the story, then spend pages on the city again and again, making it uneven.

Definitely will try it again sometime in the future, but, I wasn't really feeling it at the moment, especially towards the last 100 or so pages of my reading.

Definitely will try it again sometime in the future, but, I wasn't really feeling it at the moment, especially towards the last 100 or so pages of my reading. — Manuel

As you've seen here, you aren't the only one who had to come back later. My suggestion - get a good running start and read as fast as you can. Whenever you think of stopping, just say la, la, la over again with your fingers in your ears.

Or, like me, wait till you retire to finish reading it.

This is good advice, especially when the books are quite long.

Having said that, I'll likely wait some time before following your advice, otherwise I risk the habit of not reading novels and finishing them (now that I've started a new one).

Thanks.

The Gods of Mars
by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch.

Oration on the Dignity of Man
by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
so called "Manifesto of the Renaissance"

The Warlord of Mars
by Edgar Rice Burroughs

In honor of Cormac McCarthy, d. 2023 (today)

• Outer Dark
• Blood Meridian
• No Country For Old Men
• The Road
• The Passenger
• Stella Maris

I loved Suttree. Knoxville in the 1950's: a glorious celebration of darkness, destitution, drinking, deviance, dancing and death.

:up:

The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, Volume 2: Mythical Thought
by Ernst Cassirer

My takeaway from volume one is that language (and derivatively concept-formation and logic) is inextricable from the historical project of human existence, in all of its regional varieties. Objectivity, as Cassirer puts it, coincides with "an active interest in the world and its configuration."

@180 Proof

Are you familiar with Dao De Jing: A Philosophical Translation by Roger Ames & David Hall? If so, what do you think of it? I've found it a much more insightful reading (between the lines) than any other version of Laozi's text. I've been meaning to reread it for quite some time ...
— 180 Proof

Thanks for the reference. I hadn't heard of it. Went on Amazon. Bought it in Kindle. — T Clark

I've used this version of the Tao Te Ching some since you recommended it, but just the translated verses, which I've enjoyed, not the essays included. I just read the "Philosophical Introduction." It's so odd to read the Tao Te Ching interpreted in terms of western philosophy. I think I learned more about western philosophy than I did about Taoism. That's not a bad thing. Thanks again.

:up:

Just finished The Melancholy of Resistance - it took longer than I would have liked, I lost a bit of focus towards the last 3rd of the book, with the exception of the concluding chapter. — Manuel

You might be interested to know I just saw Bela Tarr, Laszlo Krasznahorkai's cinematic collaborator, in-person in NYC on Monday in a very rare US appearance (his last visit to the states was 12 years ago). He introduced 4 of his movies, followed by a Q&A, which included Werckmeister Harmonies, which is based on Krasznahorkai's The Melancholy of Resistance, and he helped write the screenplay. He signed my DVD of Satantango! Very friendly (and pretty funny!) man.

Damn, man, I'm kinda jealous. :cool:

End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin. It's about the problem of immiserated masses, over-production of elites, and the conflict this has led to again and again in different societies. Just published yesterday.

I enjoy reading books which eloquently and elegantly describe how cancer works, or how historical processes are the meat grinder of civilizations -- including ours. "Ah. So that's how one dies of cancer; or how a country goes down the tubes." At least I don't have to worry about being one of surplus elite.

Very cool! I'd heard that the quite long film version of Satantango was actually very well made and well received, but I've yet to see it.

I didn't know Werckmeister Harmonies existed, nor that it was an adaptation of the novel. I'd think that Melancholy of Resistance would make a better movie than Satantango, so I might check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

Very cool! I'd heard that the quite long film version of Satantango was actually very well made and well received, but I've yet to see it.

I didn't know Werckmeister Harmonies existed, nor that it was an adaptation of the novel. I'd think that Melancholy of Resistance would make a better movie than Satantango, so I might check it out. Thanks for the heads up. — Manuel

After being mostly unavailable Werckmeister Harmonies has a new 4K restoration with a limited theatrical release around the United States. Not sure where you live, but I would recommend seeing it in theaters if possible. Otherwise, it should be out in blu ray sometime this year I imagine. However, unlike Satantango, Werkmeister does not cover the entire book from which it's based.

Satantango has an excellent 4K restoration that was released on blu ray a few years back. The runtime is daunting but I highly recommend you attempt to view it in one sitting (obviously with pee breaks as nature demands). It's how Tarr wishes it was viewed, and the runtime itself is part of the film's overall atmosphere and mood. It's one of my favorite films, would love to see it in theaters one day.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Been on a nihilism kick recently.

Conspiracy Against the Human Race - Thomas Ligotti
The Trouble With Being Born - Emil Cioran
Nihil Unbound - Ray Brassier

Bunch of papers by Metzinger.

Finally got around to studying Sellars' "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man", a fantastic read. Very demystifying.