Two more to add to my ever growing library.
I’ve seen the movie adaptation of Closely Watched Trains, though my memory of it is sketchy. This may be the perfect time to read the book and then perhaps a rewatch of the movie.
I recently listened to an interview with Max Lawton the translator of Telluria (and many other books by Sorokin). The interview talked mainly about Blue Lard which sounds interesting but quite intense. Telluria should be a gentler introduction to Sorokin’s work.
A recent episode of In Our Time discussed the Hanseatic League or Hansa, a loose organization that dominated Northern European trade in the medieval period. I’d never heard of it directly before but I certainly have heard of Lufthansa, the modern German airline named after, or inspired by the Hansa.
My first book by Cole. I’m half way through and enjoying it very much.
Currently reading: Open City by Teju Cole 📚
Currently reading: Decreation by Anne Carson 📚
Loved Lem’s imaginative descriptions of the flora & fauna on the planet and the crew’s speculations about the nature of the civilization they encounter. It reminded me of the recent animated series Scavengers Reign.
Finished reading: Eden by Stanislaw Lem 📚
Some good finds at PFB today.
// Genji Days by Edward G. Seidensticker. Seidensticker’s diary from the years when he was translating The Tale of Genji. I’ve only read the Waley translation but I imagine the challenges they both faced were very similar.
// Decreation by Anne Carson. Poetry, essays, opera. I will quote part of the back cover blurb: “…writing in forms as varied as opera libretto, screenplay, poem, oratorio, essay, shot list, and rapture. As she makes her way through these forms she slowly dismantles them, and in doing so seeks to move through the self, to its undoing.”
I’m ready to be undone.
// Vertigo by W.G. Sebald. Looks unread, its condition essentially brand new. There was an Indigo Books bookmark in it so I imagine it was bought by mistake or given to someone who didn’t want it and was immediately sold.
My Lem collection. A pretty good selection of cover designs I think. Except for Solaris, that one is boring. I need to replace it with a better edition.
If life gives you Lem make Lemonade.
Reading this with a friend as part of the 99PI read along. Savouring it slowly, a hundred or so pages a month for 2024
Currently reading: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro 📚