Just another writer
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Dewey Decimal Project: 341.69 LIC The Nazis Next Door
As I dug through the 40s at the library, I found a surprising number of books dedicated to the O. J. Simpson trial. And while I’ve heard good things about the recent documentary and miniseries about the trial, I also remember the whole circus surrounding it when it happened and I’m willing to take a pass…
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Beautiful Sentences: Marilynne Robinson
I think hope is the worst thing in the world. I really do. It makes a fool of you while it lasts. And then when it’s gone, it’s like there’s nothing left of you at all. Marilynne Robinson, Home.
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Dewey Decimal Project: 331.886 STO Red Chicago
I have a great affinity for Marxist communism, and it hasn’t lost its strength despite the fall of the Russian-led communist countries. And while I had a small amount of sympathy for the Soviet-style communists, I could see that even taking into account Western propagandizing (and yes, there was a fair amount of this happening), the…
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Beautiful Sentences: J. Robert Lennon
The memories this act stirred up were mostly memories of other visits to this cemetery, when her feelings had been more profound. (This is what happens, she supposes, to dramatic events: they create feelings that create other feelings, memories that give way to memories of having them. The older you get, the more life seems…
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Salinger Revisited: Teddy
The most explicitly Buddhist of Salinger’s stories, the titular character here is a preternaturally wise child who is apparently some sort of Buddhist panjandrum who fell from grace and as a means of atonement was reincarnated into the body of an American (had he engaged in some somewhat less egregious behavior, his reincarnation would have been…
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Dewey Decimal Project: 320.509 ARE Hannah Arendt
Looking over the shelves gave me ajada with all the conservative nonsense books. Seeing the combination of Hannah Arendt and Julia Kristeva on the spine of this book left me feeling that there might be some hope after all for the 300s. This is a biography of sorts, but one really focusing more on Arendt’s life…
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Beautiful Sentences: Denis Johnson
No wonder he didn’t hear or speak, no wonder he didn’t have anything to do with words. Everything along those lines was used up Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son.
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Salinger Revisited: De Daumier Smith’s Blue Period
This is, to me, one of those stories that feels like a remnant of Salinger’s pre-New Yorker writing. Perhaps this is why it was declined by The New Yorker and instead appeared in Information World Review instead (it was, in fact, the last Salinger story that appeared outside the pages of The New Yorker). There continue to be…
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Dewey Decimal Project: 317.3 PET Unlocking the Census with GIS
Sometimes in the Dewey Decimal project I end up with bad choices. In this instance, the 310s are statistics. There were a couple of almanacs and this book. Then, for added bonus, I lost the book while I was reading it. I ended up buying a used copy in excellent condition to finish reading it.…