home.social

#readingjournal — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #readingjournal, aggregated by home.social.

fetched live
  1. - La tête te fait mal?
    - Non. Elle ne fait pas mal comme aux autres ; elle est pleine, voilà, et elle craque toute seule dans l’ombre, comme un vieux bassin. On me laisse seul tout le temps, je peux pas parler, ça s’accumule dans moi, ça pèse sur les os. Il en coule bien un peu par les yeux, mais les gros morceaux, ça peut pas passer, ils restent dans la tête.

    - T’as parlé le berli du berlu à la corbelle du corbeau?

    « son petit rire qui grignote le silence »
     
    J Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  2. - La tête te fait mal?
    - Non. Elle ne fait pas mal comme aux autres ; elle est pleine, voilà, et elle craque toute seule dans l’ombre, comme un vieux bassin. On me laisse seul tout le temps, je peux pas parler, ça s’accumule dans moi, ça pèse sur les os. Il en coule bien un peu par les yeux, mais les gros morceaux, ça peut pas passer, ils restent dans la tête.

    - T’as parlé le berli du berlu à la corbelle du corbeau?

    « son petit rire qui grignote le silence »
     
    J Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  3. - La tête te fait mal?
    - Non. Elle ne fait pas mal comme aux autres ; elle est pleine, voilà, et elle craque toute seule dans l’ombre, comme un vieux bassin. On me laisse seul tout le temps, je peux pas parler, ça s’accumule dans moi, ça pèse sur les os. Il en coule bien un peu par les yeux, mais les gros morceaux, ça peut pas passer, ils restent dans la tête.

    - T’as parlé le berli du berlu à la corbelle du corbeau?

    « son petit rire qui grignote le silence »
     
    J Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  4. - La tête te fait mal?
    - Non. Elle ne fait pas mal comme aux autres ; elle est pleine, voilà, et elle craque toute seule dans l’ombre, comme un vieux bassin. On me laisse seul tout le temps, je peux pas parler, ça s’accumule dans moi, ça pèse sur les os. Il en coule bien un peu par les yeux, mais les gros morceaux, ça peut pas passer, ils restent dans la tête.

    - T’as parlé le berli du berlu à la corbelle du corbeau?

    « son petit rire qui grignote le silence »
     
    J Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  5. - La tête te fait mal?
    - Non. Elle ne fait pas mal comme aux autres ; elle est pleine, voilà, et elle craque toute seule dans l’ombre, comme un vieux bassin. On me laisse seul tout le temps, je peux pas parler, ça s’accumule dans moi, ça pèse sur les os. Il en coule bien un peu par les yeux, mais les gros morceaux, ça peut pas passer, ils restent dans la tête.

    - T’as parlé le berli du berlu à la corbelle du corbeau?

    « son petit rire qui grignote le silence »
     
    J Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  6. I finally finished reading Colline by Jean Giono. It was quite a labor, looking up so many words that were new to me, some of them multiple times, because having looked it up once didn’t guarantee that I would remember it when I encountered it again. It’s very satisfying to have finished. It’s an excellent book. Now I’m going to get the other two in the trilogy. And start all over again with looking up unknown words.
    #ReadingJournal

  7. - Ce qu’il faut guetter? Tout et rien : le poids de l’air, le chaud, le frais, le vent, le nuage, on peut en tirer enseignement. Allons. 

    - Ça vient toujours du côté qu’on ne surveille pas. 

    « Mais, le malheur est-il obligé de passer par les routes? N’y a-t-il pas assez d’espace au-dessus de la tête des hommes, entre leurs cheveux et les nuages? »
     
    Jean Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  8. I finally finished reading Colline by Jean Giono. It was quite a labor, looking up so many words that were new to me, some of them multiple times, because having looked it up once didn’t guarantee that I would remember it when I encountered it again. It’s very satisfying to have finished. It’s an excellent book. Now I’m going to get the other two in the trilogy. And start all over again with looking up unknown words.
    #ReadingJournal

  9. - Ce qu’il faut guetter? Tout et rien : le poids de l’air, le chaud, le frais, le vent, le nuage, on peut en tirer enseignement. Allons. 

    - Ça vient toujours du côté qu’on ne surveille pas. 

    « Mais, le malheur est-il obligé de passer par les routes? N’y a-t-il pas assez d’espace au-dessus de la tête des hommes, entre leurs cheveux et les nuages? »
     
    Jean Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  10. I finally finished reading Colline by Jean Giono. It was quite a labor, looking up so many words that were new to me, some of them multiple times, because having looked it up once didn’t guarantee that I would remember it when I encountered it again. It’s very satisfying to have finished. It’s an excellent book. Now I’m going to get the other two in the trilogy. And start all over again with looking up unknown words.
    #ReadingJournal

  11. - Ce qu’il faut guetter? Tout et rien : le poids de l’air, le chaud, le frais, le vent, le nuage, on peut en tirer enseignement. Allons. 

    - Ça vient toujours du côté qu’on ne surveille pas. 

    « Mais, le malheur est-il obligé de passer par les routes? N’y a-t-il pas assez d’espace au-dessus de la tête des hommes, entre leurs cheveux et les nuages? »
     
    Jean Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  12. I finally finished reading Colline by Jean Giono. It was quite a labor, looking up so many words that were new to me, some of them multiple times, because having looked it up once didn’t guarantee that I would remember it when I encountered it again. It’s very satisfying to have finished. It’s an excellent book. Now I’m going to get the other two in the trilogy. And start all over again with looking up unknown words.
    #ReadingJournal

  13. - Ce qu’il faut guetter? Tout et rien : le poids de l’air, le chaud, le frais, le vent, le nuage, on peut en tirer enseignement. Allons. 

    - Ça vient toujours du côté qu’on ne surveille pas. 

    « Mais, le malheur est-il obligé de passer par les routes? N’y a-t-il pas assez d’espace au-dessus de la tête des hommes, entre leurs cheveux et les nuages? »
     
    Jean Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  14. I finally finished reading Colline by Jean Giono. It was quite a labor, looking up so many words that were new to me, some of them multiple times, because having looked it up once didn’t guarantee that I would remember it when I encountered it again. It’s very satisfying to have finished. It’s an excellent book. Now I’m going to get the other two in the trilogy. And start all over again with looking up unknown words.
    #ReadingJournal

  15. - Ce qu’il faut guetter? Tout et rien : le poids de l’air, le chaud, le frais, le vent, le nuage, on peut en tirer enseignement. Allons. 

    - Ça vient toujours du côté qu’on ne surveille pas. 

    « Mais, le malheur est-il obligé de passer par les routes? N’y a-t-il pas assez d’espace au-dessus de la tête des hommes, entre leurs cheveux et les nuages? »
     
    Jean Giono, Colline
    #ReadingJournal

  16. 'The lectures offered a viable counterpoint to the repeated interrogations the men are forced to endure. His lectures were an act of resistance, stimulating the recovery and retention of personal memories that could protect and defend his colleagues from the attempt to deprive each of them of a sense of self.' -- from 'Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp' by Józef Czapski, trans. by Eric Karpeles

    #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  17. 'The lectures offered a viable counterpoint to the repeated interrogations the men are forced to endure. His lectures were an act of resistance, stimulating the recovery and retention of personal memories that could protect and defend his colleagues from the attempt to deprive each of them of a sense of self.' -- from 'Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp' by Józef Czapski, trans. by Eric Karpeles

    #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  18. 'The lectures offered a viable counterpoint to the repeated interrogations the men are forced to endure. His lectures were an act of resistance, stimulating the recovery and retention of personal memories that could protect and defend his colleagues from the attempt to deprive each of them of a sense of self.' -- from 'Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp' by Józef Czapski, trans. by Eric Karpeles

    #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  19. 'The lectures offered a viable counterpoint to the repeated interrogations the men are forced to endure. His lectures were an act of resistance, stimulating the recovery and retention of personal memories that could protect and defend his colleagues from the attempt to deprive each of them of a sense of self.' -- from 'Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp' by Józef Czapski, trans. by Eric Karpeles

    #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  20. 'The lectures offered a viable counterpoint to the repeated interrogations the men are forced to endure. His lectures were an act of resistance, stimulating the recovery and retention of personal memories that could protect and defend his colleagues from the attempt to deprive each of them of a sense of self.' -- from 'Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp' by Józef Czapski, trans. by Eric Karpeles

    #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  21. "Even as he was thinking this, he felt his legs and his head going terribly light, and had a strange feeling as though he were floating upside down in the air. The next thing he knew, it was he who had become a “cloudhead.” Whether carried by the wind or moving on his own, he was drifting gently through the air, going nowhere in particular." -- from the story 'The Man of the Hills' by Kenji Miyazawa, trans. by John Bester in the collection 'Once and Forever'

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  22. "Even as he was thinking this, he felt his legs and his head going terribly light, and had a strange feeling as though he were floating upside down in the air. The next thing he knew, it was he who had become a “cloudhead.” Whether carried by the wind or moving on his own, he was drifting gently through the air, going nowhere in particular." -- from the story 'The Man of the Hills' by Kenji Miyazawa, trans. by John Bester in the collection 'Once and Forever'

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  23. "Even as he was thinking this, he felt his legs and his head going terribly light, and had a strange feeling as though he were floating upside down in the air. The next thing he knew, it was he who had become a “cloudhead.” Whether carried by the wind or moving on his own, he was drifting gently through the air, going nowhere in particular." -- from the story 'The Man of the Hills' by Kenji Miyazawa, trans. by John Bester in the collection 'Once and Forever'

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  24. "Even as he was thinking this, he felt his legs and his head going terribly light, and had a strange feeling as though he were floating upside down in the air. The next thing he knew, it was he who had become a “cloudhead.” Whether carried by the wind or moving on his own, he was drifting gently through the air, going nowhere in particular." -- from the story 'The Man of the Hills' by Kenji Miyazawa, trans. by John Bester in the collection 'Once and Forever'

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  25. "Even as he was thinking this, he felt his legs and his head going terribly light, and had a strange feeling as though he were floating upside down in the air. The next thing he knew, it was he who had become a “cloudhead.” Whether carried by the wind or moving on his own, he was drifting gently through the air, going nowhere in particular." -- from the story 'The Man of the Hills' by Kenji Miyazawa, trans. by John Bester in the collection 'Once and Forever'

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  26. "I’d been hearing rumors to this effect, but then a team of top-tier researchers at Oxford and Cambridge universities released a peer-reviewed report that found that generative AI, by virtue of the way it’s trained on recursively generated interconnecting data, will eventually degrade until the output is a worthless distortion of reality. As some commentators are saying, AI will eat itself before it does too much else." -- from 'I Eat the Stars' by Sarah Wilson

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  27. "I’d been hearing rumors to this effect, but then a team of top-tier researchers at Oxford and Cambridge universities released a peer-reviewed report that found that generative AI, by virtue of the way it’s trained on recursively generated interconnecting data, will eventually degrade until the output is a worthless distortion of reality. As some commentators are saying, AI will eat itself before it does too much else." -- from 'I Eat the Stars' by Sarah Wilson

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  28. "I’d been hearing rumors to this effect, but then a team of top-tier researchers at Oxford and Cambridge universities released a peer-reviewed report that found that generative AI, by virtue of the way it’s trained on recursively generated interconnecting data, will eventually degrade until the output is a worthless distortion of reality. As some commentators are saying, AI will eat itself before it does too much else." -- from 'I Eat the Stars' by Sarah Wilson

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  29. "I’d been hearing rumors to this effect, but then a team of top-tier researchers at Oxford and Cambridge universities released a peer-reviewed report that found that generative AI, by virtue of the way it’s trained on recursively generated interconnecting data, will eventually degrade until the output is a worthless distortion of reality. As some commentators are saying, AI will eat itself before it does too much else." -- from 'I Eat the Stars' by Sarah Wilson

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  30. "I’d been hearing rumors to this effect, but then a team of top-tier researchers at Oxford and Cambridge universities released a peer-reviewed report that found that generative AI, by virtue of the way it’s trained on recursively generated interconnecting data, will eventually degrade until the output is a worthless distortion of reality. As some commentators are saying, AI will eat itself before it does too much else." -- from 'I Eat the Stars' by Sarah Wilson

    #BookQuote #reading #books #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  31. 'Mozart, though, was sort of a last resort, a cure-all that calmed his anxiety, removed the ugliness of the everyday from his soul, and allowed him to enter the pure world of ideas.' - from 'The Hanged Man of Conakry' by Jean-Christophe Rufin, trans. Alison Anderson

    #SundaySentence #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  32. 'Mozart, though, was sort of a last resort, a cure-all that calmed his anxiety, removed the ugliness of the everyday from his soul, and allowed him to enter the pure world of ideas.' - from 'The Hanged Man of Conakry' by Jean-Christophe Rufin, trans. Alison Anderson

    #SundaySentence #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  33. 'Mozart, though, was sort of a last resort, a cure-all that calmed his anxiety, removed the ugliness of the everyday from his soul, and allowed him to enter the pure world of ideas.' - from 'The Hanged Man of Conakry' by Jean-Christophe Rufin, trans. Alison Anderson

    #SundaySentence #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  34. 'Mozart, though, was sort of a last resort, a cure-all that calmed his anxiety, removed the ugliness of the everyday from his soul, and allowed him to enter the pure world of ideas.' - from 'The Hanged Man of Conakry' by Jean-Christophe Rufin, trans. Alison Anderson

    #SundaySentence #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  35. 'Mozart, though, was sort of a last resort, a cure-all that calmed his anxiety, removed the ugliness of the everyday from his soul, and allowed him to enter the pure world of ideas.' - from 'The Hanged Man of Conakry' by Jean-Christophe Rufin, trans. Alison Anderson

    #SundaySentence #BookQuote #ReadingJournal #books #reading #bookstodon

  36. #ReadingJournal I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson doesn't mince words in summing up what the near future will most probably look like as climate changes increase, and our human-made, overly complex, worldwide interconnected systems fail. But this is a surprisingly uplifting book.

    It originated in Wilson's Substack columns and follows the path she went on in first acknowledging that the 'old normal' won't go on, the relief in facing that reality and realizing we are already in the difficult liminal period between old and new. She sees and shows the positive possibilities as people work to mitigate the damage done, and creatively work out what the future could be.

    I almost gave up on the book at the beginning; it has the immediacy of its social media origins, but also has the drawbacks--the jargon and trendy language--and I could have done with less name-dropping. However, I stuck with the book and in spite of the drawbacks, am very glad I did. It helps to see how others have reached where they have in their thinking, and how they came (and are coming), to grips with the uncertainty and fear, and changing their mindsets and lives to meet the future. I also appreciated the quotes and ideas Wilson has culled from thinkers, experts, artists and others.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  37. #ReadingJournal I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson doesn't mince words in summing up what the near future will most probably look like as climate changes increase, and our human-made, overly complex, worldwide interconnected systems fail. But this is a surprisingly uplifting book.

    It originated in Wilson's Substack columns and follows the path she went on in first acknowledging that the 'old normal' won't go on, the relief in facing that reality and realizing we are already in the difficult liminal period between old and new. She sees and shows the positive possibilities as people work to mitigate the damage done, and creatively work out what the future could be.

    I almost gave up on the book at the beginning; it has the immediacy of its social media origins, but also has the drawbacks--the jargon and trendy language--and I could have done with less name-dropping. However, I stuck with the book and in spite of the drawbacks, am very glad I did. It helps to see how others have reached where they have in their thinking, and how they came (and are coming), to grips with the uncertainty and fear, and changing their mindsets and lives to meet the future. I also appreciated the quotes and ideas Wilson has culled from thinkers, experts, artists and others.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  38. #ReadingJournal I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson doesn't mince words in summing up what the near future will most probably look like as climate changes increase, and our human-made, overly complex, worldwide interconnected systems fail. But this is a surprisingly uplifting book.

    It originated in Wilson's Substack columns and follows the path she went on in first acknowledging that the 'old normal' won't go on, the relief in facing that reality and realizing we are already in the difficult liminal period between old and new. She sees and shows the positive possibilities as people work to mitigate the damage done, and creatively work out what the future could be.

    I almost gave up on the book at the beginning; it has the immediacy of its social media origins, but also has the drawbacks--the jargon and trendy language--and I could have done with less name-dropping. However, I stuck with the book and in spite of the drawbacks, am very glad I did. It helps to see how others have reached where they have in their thinking, and how they came (and are coming), to grips with the uncertainty and fear, and changing their mindsets and lives to meet the future. I also appreciated the quotes and ideas Wilson has culled from thinkers, experts, artists and others.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  39. #ReadingJournal I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson doesn't mince words in summing up what the near future will most probably look like as climate changes increase, and our human-made, overly complex, worldwide interconnected systems fail. But this is a surprisingly uplifting book.

    It originated in Wilson's Substack columns and follows the path she went on in first acknowledging that the 'old normal' won't go on, the relief in facing that reality and realizing we are already in the difficult liminal period between old and new. She sees and shows the positive possibilities as people work to mitigate the damage done, and creatively work out what the future could be.

    I almost gave up on the book at the beginning; it has the immediacy of its social media origins, but also has the drawbacks--the jargon and trendy language--and I could have done with less name-dropping. However, I stuck with the book and in spite of the drawbacks, am very glad I did. It helps to see how others have reached where they have in their thinking, and how they came (and are coming), to grips with the uncertainty and fear, and changing their mindsets and lives to meet the future. I also appreciated the quotes and ideas Wilson has culled from thinkers, experts, artists and others.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  40. #ReadingJournal I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson doesn't mince words in summing up what the near future will most probably look like as climate changes increase, and our human-made, overly complex, worldwide interconnected systems fail. But this is a surprisingly uplifting book.

    It originated in Wilson's Substack columns and follows the path she went on in first acknowledging that the 'old normal' won't go on, the relief in facing that reality and realizing we are already in the difficult liminal period between old and new. She sees and shows the positive possibilities as people work to mitigate the damage done, and creatively work out what the future could be.

    I almost gave up on the book at the beginning; it has the immediacy of its social media origins, but also has the drawbacks--the jargon and trendy language--and I could have done with less name-dropping. However, I stuck with the book and in spite of the drawbacks, am very glad I did. It helps to see how others have reached where they have in their thinking, and how they came (and are coming), to grips with the uncertainty and fear, and changing their mindsets and lives to meet the future. I also appreciated the quotes and ideas Wilson has culled from thinkers, experts, artists and others.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  41. @bookstodon I ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and will probably get it soon, I'd been hoping to get it today but well...
    I'm going (almost) all analogue with this, but I want to try writing a reading journal of some kind. Been looking at YouTube for inspiration, but most of those are insane, pretty but insane. No way I can do anything like that. But I'm stealing basic ideas and pondering what to do. Could be fun. Also combining this with an old-timey card catalogue

  42. @bookstodon I ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and will probably get it soon, I'd been hoping to get it today but well...
    I'm going (almost) all analogue with this, but I want to try writing a reading journal of some kind. Been looking at YouTube for inspiration, but most of those are insane, pretty but insane. No way I can do anything like that. But I'm stealing basic ideas and pondering what to do. Could be fun. Also combining this with an old-timey card catalogue
    #ReadingJournal #Reading

  43. @bookstodon I ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and will probably get it soon, I'd been hoping to get it today but well...
    I'm going (almost) all analogue with this, but I want to try writing a reading journal of some kind. Been looking at YouTube for inspiration, but most of those are insane, pretty but insane. No way I can do anything like that. But I'm stealing basic ideas and pondering what to do. Could be fun. Also combining this with an old-timey card catalogue
    #ReadingJournal #Reading

  44. @bookstodon I ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and will probably get it soon, I'd been hoping to get it today but well...
    I'm going (almost) all analogue with this, but I want to try writing a reading journal of some kind. Been looking at YouTube for inspiration, but most of those are insane, pretty but insane. No way I can do anything like that. But I'm stealing basic ideas and pondering what to do. Could be fun. Also combining this with an old-timey card catalogue
    #ReadingJournal #Reading

  45. @bookstodon I ordered a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook and will probably get it soon, I'd been hoping to get it today but well...
    I'm going (almost) all analogue with this, but I want to try writing a reading journal of some kind. Been looking at YouTube for inspiration, but most of those are insane, pretty but insane. No way I can do anything like that. But I'm stealing basic ideas and pondering what to do. Could be fun. Also combining this with an old-timey card catalogue
    #ReadingJournal #Reading

  46. #ReadingJournal The author opens The Dark Side of the Earth with a pertinent question - who really won the Cold War?

    Told through the eyes and lives of the people who were at the center of what happened to the Soviet Union during the latter half of the 20th century, or those whose actions and words influenced events, Mikhail Zygar's account is immediate and edge-of-the-seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it all ended.

    The accounts Zygar elicited in the several hundred interviews he did include more than a few jaw-dropping stories, and insights such as how Alexander Solzhenitsyn's prose style comes across to a Russian reader, ("...sounds oddly off--his desperate attempts to be quintessentially Russian often come across as unintentionally comical.")

    And that question? Russia didn't but America and other Western democracies didn't either, the dark cynicism of the Russians who now believe in nothing, certainly not democracy, is spreading.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  47. #ReadingJournal The author opens The Dark Side of the Earth with a pertinent question - who really won the Cold War?

    Told through the eyes and lives of the people who were at the center of what happened to the Soviet Union during the latter half of the 20th century, or those whose actions and words influenced events, Mikhail Zygar's account is immediate and edge-of-the-seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it all ended.

    The accounts Zygar elicited in the several hundred interviews he did include more than a few jaw-dropping stories, and insights such as how Alexander Solzhenitsyn's prose style comes across to a Russian reader, ("...sounds oddly off--his desperate attempts to be quintessentially Russian often come across as unintentionally comical.")

    And that question? Russia didn't but America and other Western democracies didn't either, the dark cynicism of the Russians who now believe in nothing, certainly not democracy, is spreading.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  48. #ReadingJournal The author opens The Dark Side of the Earth with a pertinent question - who really won the Cold War?

    Told through the eyes and lives of the people who were at the center of what happened to the Soviet Union during the latter half of the 20th century, or those whose actions and words influenced events, Mikhail Zygar's account is immediate and edge-of-the-seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it all ended.

    The accounts Zygar elicited in the several hundred interviews he did include more than a few jaw-dropping stories, and insights such as how Alexander Solzhenitsyn's prose style comes across to a Russian reader, ("...sounds oddly off--his desperate attempts to be quintessentially Russian often come across as unintentionally comical.")

    And that question? Russia didn't but America and other Western democracies didn't either, the dark cynicism of the Russians who now believe in nothing, certainly not democracy, is spreading.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  49. #ReadingJournal The author opens The Dark Side of the Earth with a pertinent question - who really won the Cold War?

    Told through the eyes and lives of the people who were at the center of what happened to the Soviet Union during the latter half of the 20th century, or those whose actions and words influenced events, Mikhail Zygar's account is immediate and edge-of-the-seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it all ended.

    The accounts Zygar elicited in the several hundred interviews he did include more than a few jaw-dropping stories, and insights such as how Alexander Solzhenitsyn's prose style comes across to a Russian reader, ("...sounds oddly off--his desperate attempts to be quintessentially Russian often come across as unintentionally comical.")

    And that question? Russia didn't but America and other Western democracies didn't either, the dark cynicism of the Russians who now believe in nothing, certainly not democracy, is spreading.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  50. #ReadingJournal The author opens The Dark Side of the Earth with a pertinent question - who really won the Cold War?

    Told through the eyes and lives of the people who were at the center of what happened to the Soviet Union during the latter half of the 20th century, or those whose actions and words influenced events, Mikhail Zygar's account is immediate and edge-of-the-seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows how it all ended.

    The accounts Zygar elicited in the several hundred interviews he did include more than a few jaw-dropping stories, and insights such as how Alexander Solzhenitsyn's prose style comes across to a Russian reader, ("...sounds oddly off--his desperate attempts to be quintessentially Russian often come across as unintentionally comical.")

    And that question? Russia didn't but America and other Western democracies didn't either, the dark cynicism of the Russians who now believe in nothing, certainly not democracy, is spreading.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  51. #ReadingJournal Years ago I read Saša Stanišić's debut novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Recently I finally picked up his Where You Come From, an autobiographical and coming-of-age novel told in short chapters that reflect the fragmenting of lives and families because of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

    The narrator writes of his happy childhood in Višegrad, his closeness to his grandparents, especially his Grandma Kristina, his teenage years and friends in Germany, and his trips back to Bosnia after the war to visit Kristina whose memory is also fragmenting.

    The character portraits Stanišić draws of people are warm with an underlying quiet wryness that is very appealing.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  52. #ReadingJournal Years ago I read Saša Stanišić's debut novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Recently I finally picked up his Where You Come From, an autobiographical and coming-of-age novel told in short chapters that reflect the fragmenting of lives and families because of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

    The narrator writes of his happy childhood in Višegrad, his closeness to his grandparents, especially his Grandma Kristina, his teenage years and friends in Germany, and his trips back to Bosnia after the war to visit Kristina whose memory is also fragmenting.

    The character portraits Stanišić draws of people are warm with an underlying quiet wryness that is very appealing.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  53. #ReadingJournal Years ago I read Saša Stanišić's debut novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Recently I finally picked up his Where You Come From, an autobiographical and coming-of-age novel told in short chapters that reflect the fragmenting of lives and families because of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

    The narrator writes of his happy childhood in Višegrad, his closeness to his grandparents, especially his Grandma Kristina, his teenage years and friends in Germany, and his trips back to Bosnia after the war to visit Kristina whose memory is also fragmenting.

    The character portraits Stanišić draws of people are warm with an underlying quiet wryness that is very appealing.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  54. #ReadingJournal Years ago I read Saša Stanišić's debut novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Recently I finally picked up his Where You Come From, an autobiographical and coming-of-age novel told in short chapters that reflect the fragmenting of lives and families because of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

    The narrator writes of his happy childhood in Višegrad, his closeness to his grandparents, especially his Grandma Kristina, his teenage years and friends in Germany, and his trips back to Bosnia after the war to visit Kristina whose memory is also fragmenting.

    The character portraits Stanišić draws of people are warm with an underlying quiet wryness that is very appealing.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  55. #ReadingJournal Years ago I read Saša Stanišić's debut novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Recently I finally picked up his Where You Come From, an autobiographical and coming-of-age novel told in short chapters that reflect the fragmenting of lives and families because of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

    The narrator writes of his happy childhood in Višegrad, his closeness to his grandparents, especially his Grandma Kristina, his teenage years and friends in Germany, and his trips back to Bosnia after the war to visit Kristina whose memory is also fragmenting.

    The character portraits Stanišić draws of people are warm with an underlying quiet wryness that is very appealing.
    #reading #books #bookstodon

  56. 'The past was rising up everywhere, filling with blood and coming to life. A radical move was needed, something unexpected and prescient, which would stop this irresistible centrifugal force. The time for love had ended, now came the time for hate. If hate were the gross domestic product, then the growth of prosperity in some countries would soon be sky-high.' -- from 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospodinov; trans. Angela Rodel

    #WednesdayBookQuote #books #reading #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  57. 'The past was rising up everywhere, filling with blood and coming to life. A radical move was needed, something unexpected and prescient, which would stop this irresistible centrifugal force. The time for love had ended, now came the time for hate. If hate were the gross domestic product, then the growth of prosperity in some countries would soon be sky-high.' -- from 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospodinov; trans. Angela Rodel

    #WednesdayBookQuote #books #reading #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  58. 'The past was rising up everywhere, filling with blood and coming to life. A radical move was needed, something unexpected and prescient, which would stop this irresistible centrifugal force. The time for love had ended, now came the time for hate. If hate were the gross domestic product, then the growth of prosperity in some countries would soon be sky-high.' -- from 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospodinov; trans. Angela Rodel

    #WednesdayBookQuote #books #reading #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  59. 'The past was rising up everywhere, filling with blood and coming to life. A radical move was needed, something unexpected and prescient, which would stop this irresistible centrifugal force. The time for love had ended, now came the time for hate. If hate were the gross domestic product, then the growth of prosperity in some countries would soon be sky-high.' -- from 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospodinov; trans. Angela Rodel

    #WednesdayBookQuote #books #reading #ReadingJournal #bookstodon

  60. 'The past was rising up everywhere, filling with blood and coming to life. A radical move was needed, something unexpected and prescient, which would stop this irresistible centrifugal force. The time for love had ended, now came the time for hate. If hate were the gross domestic product, then the growth of prosperity in some countries would soon be sky-high.' -- from 'Time Shelter' by Georgi Gospodinov; trans. Angela Rodel

    #WednesdayBookQuote #books #reading #ReadingJournal #bookstodon