bostonimproper wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 3:46 pm
Goal for Dec 28 - Jan 2
Finish either
Portfolios of the Poor or
City Power, both of which I have sitting half-finished.
I ended up reading neither of these. I also DNF’d a parenting book my friend recommended but I wasn’t really jiving with (
Hunt, Gather, Parent). Instead I filled up on a few short, quick reads:
Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion. This was the first time I ever read Didion. This probably makes me sound like a provincial techie, but she reminded me a lot of Kara Swisher. Which isn’t terribly surprising, apparently Swisher loves Didion’s writing. Observant and acerbic, with a certain Reagan-era California sensibility. Wry but not funny, though I don’t think she’s trying to be. I liked her essay on Martha Stewart as the iconic proto-influencer quite a bit.
Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan. Again, first time I’ve read this author. As a contemporary Asian surrealist writer, my surface level first thought was, “Oh this reminds me a lot of Murakami.” Apparently Mo Yan “stole” the Nobel Prize in Literature out from under Murakami in 2012- the literary world thought the odds were in Murakami’s favor that year to win- so clearly I’m not the only one making the connection. Mo Yan’s writing is a lot more political, though, in ways that I’m kind of stunned he was able to get past the censors in China. This was a short story collection; I think I’d be interested in diving into some of his novels next.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates is a beautiful, lyrical, powerful writer. His work will undoubtedly stand the test of time and be read by students fifty or a hundred years from now to understand what it’s like to live as a black man in America today. This series of essays he writes to his son just gutted me. The intergenerational trauma of racism and how it fuels the *absolute requirement* imposed on Coates to strive for black excellence; the wide-eyed critique of American race relations, not just on historical terms, but on the standards we “set” for ourselves in our own country’s mythos. Just so, so good.
That puts my book count for 2023 up to 3. My goal for the rest of January is to finish 2 more. Since my goal for 2023 as a whole is 20 books, this should give me a strong head start.