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Notes -
So, what are you reading?
I've finished The Handmaid's Tale. It's a book I'll have to read again sometime, since there's clearly a lot which I haven't noticed. Can't say it ever came together for me, but maybe that's because I didn't really understand its thrust. The tone throughout was sterile, which was probably intentional, given the motifs of waiting and idleness. The world itself never made a convincing dystopia; it was way too lax in just about everything, and the sense of fear of reprisals or of other people never became more than a literary suggestion. The writing was quite good.
It proved as curious as Atwood, who has not been a predictable simpleton when it comes to politics. On the one hand, it could be read as a screed against the religious right, but the picture is always muddled by something, like the quoting of the communist from each according to his ability. The last chapter muddies the picture even further, making us wonder to what extent this is to be taken as history or myth. As a myth, it may be something of value, something worth a closer look. As a history, it is laced with what seems like old arguments among old activists which seems to limp on eternally, even up to paranoia over viruses.
Going to try some Agatha Christie next, which perennialy seems to be collecting dust on my shelf.
Manuel Marrero's Bodycount. Borderline unreadable, and certainly less of a novel and more of a rant. But the man runs a good press.
Rambo van Halen's Hollywood Samizdat. It's just his twitter threads. He's a good enough writer that it's still a great read, and if you're interested in modern film industry and not on twitter it's worth buying, but also hard to call it a novel.
Ezra Pound's poetry. How does anyone achieve this boldness, this daring? It would be worth going mad to write like that.
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