Ecce Sigum

Tag: Boston Review

  • March 2023 Books and Reading Notes

    March was a quieter month than usual, as winter dragged on and on and on, sucking the energy out of the world and making it difficult to stay awake during my usual reading times.

    Point of interest: This is the first month, since I started tracking things back in 2015, in which I have only acquired one book or book-like object. The previous record for smallest monthly haul was 3.

    Acquisitions

    The Boston Review #2023.1: Speculation

    1. Boston Review #2023.1: Speculation [2023.03.04]

    Reading List

    Books I read to completion in March 2023.

    Books and Journals

    1. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Writing Across the Landscape [2023.03.13] – This was an interesting read. Ferlinghetti wrote beautifully about the many places he visited, and I enjoyed seeing how his artistic eye evolved over the five decades captured in this book. Highly recommended. May cause wanderlust.
    2. E. Catherine Tobler, The Kraken Sea [2023.03.15] –
    3. Jordan Kurella, I Never Liked You Anyway [2023.03.18] – A modern-day re-imagining of the story of Eurydice and Orpheus. I loved it!
    4. Shenaz Patel (Jeffrey Zuckerman, translator), Silence of the Chagos [2023.03.19]
    5. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.21] – As always, this was an excellent issue. I think my favorite story was A.B. Young’s “Vain Beasts.”
    6. David Albahari (Ellen Elias-Bursać, translator), Checkpoint [2023.03.23] – This was a weird, brilliant, discomforting read. The cover blurbs are right: Definite hints of Catch 22, Waiting for Godot, and (in my opinion) a little bit of Blood Meridian. Checkpoint is absurd and weird and ultimately futile.
    7. Neon Yang, The Ascent to Godhood [2023.03.26] – This was pretty good. Not quite as good as the first two novellas in the series, but I have yet to be disappointed by any of Yang’s work.
    8. Xu Zechen (Eric Abrahamsen, translator), Running Through Beijing [2023.03.28]

    Short Prose

    1. Ellen Rhudy, “The Remaining”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.08]
    2. James L. Cambias, “René Descartes and the Cross of Blood”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.19]
    3. Nicole Kimberling, “Comfort Food”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.19]
    4. Emily B. Cataneo, “Bears at Parties”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.20]
    5. A.B. Young, “Vain Beasts”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.20]
    6. Sarah Monette, “The Oracle of Abbey Road (Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night), Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.20]
    7. Joanna Ruocco, “Stone, Paper, Stone”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.20]
    8. S. Woodson, “Lime and the One Human”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #38 [2023.03.21]

  • The Year is Winding Down

    New books for the week of December 4, 2022

    As we reach the midpoint of December I feel, for the 22nd year in a row, a profound sense of relief that I no longer work in retail. When the owners of a store yowl, from their expensive house in an expensive neighborhood, that the workers making barely more than minimum wage need to work both smarter AND harder, I begin to understand why the plans for home-made guillotines are proliferating across the internet.

    Anyway.

    Two new journal arrived at the house this week. On the left is the latest issue of The Boston Review. On the right is the latest issue of The Paris Review. Both are the last issues I will see of these publications, as I have let both subscriptions lapse. Despite my earlier misgivings I am sticking to my guns, and from now on will only purchase books intentionally, rather than subscribing to a dozen periodicals and catalogs and letting the arrivals sit unread for years at a time.

    It’s also cheaper that way, which is always a concern.

    In reading news, I am well over halfway through Crime and Punishment, and still expect to complete it before Christmas.

    In writing news, other than journaling, I haven’t written anything since the end of November. Too many things going on all at once.

    I think I am about due for another Great Simplification, the first since January of 2013. Ten years is probably slightly too long to go between Simplifications, but for the past several years I have been both happy and content, and haven’t felt the need to change things significantly. I am still happy and content, but entropy is making itself felt in several areas of my life, and in order to focus on those areas I need to let some other things in my life recede into the background.

    So it goes, as always.