20230710

20230710

Reading, reading, reading. I don't quite know what to say in these captions anymore, I'm out of practice it seems. I'm approaching summer with a singular goal, reading. It's been a very tumultuous year for me so far because of a wide range of happenings, whilst I usually find the quiet of summer disconcerting I welcome its melancholy and temporality now. I'm primarily reading non-fiction, completing philosophical works of which I only managed to read a snippet for class. Usually I'd be thinking of the future, the many things to come. I can't live in ignorance of what is to happen, but for now I can live in the present.

Summer TBR

Given I wanted to spend the majority of my summer reading, in an attempt to recover from the tumultous spring semester and I wanted to be a bit more active on here I thought I'd keep track of my list on this post.

La Chute, Albert Camus

The Dispossessed, Urusla K. Le Guin

Finished 2 July. I really enjoyed this, it was quite an easy read but I mean that in the best way possible. It passed around a lot of interesting ideas in a way that is easily graspable and I liked the switch of perspectives between the planets/past and present.

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

Finished 7 July. I have had this on my shelf since 2018, and finally finished reading it. Subject matter aside, it was a surprisingly easy read as the language was surprisingly simple to comprehend and the pace, at times, rather high. It was revolting in the exact way I had anticipated and the book definitely lives up to its status as a classic.

Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami

Finished 5 July. I'm not the biggest fan of Murakami, but I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this book and the story unravelling slowly before my eyes.

The Gebroeders Kramazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Leadership, Henry Kissinger

Transgender Marxism, Gleeson & O'Rourke

De metamorfose van de wereld, Jurgen Österhammel

De Consultancy Industrie, Mazzucato & Collington

Finished 4 July. One of the most frustrating books I've read all year in the best way possible, that is, by exposing one of the fundamental structures that keeps out current world running in a clear and comprehensive way.

Additional books I've read

The Secret History, Donna Tartt

I reread this book about every year during the summer as it perfectly encapsulates my melancholy. Surprisingly, I found it particularly insightful this time around. Perhaps because I'm a little older, perhaps a bit more experienced, but I felt that for the first time I was able to fully see both stories unfolding (The great tragedy and the satire) and it made the book all the greater to read again

Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy by sweetsugarcane

BUTTERFLY DREAM, 2018

The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

Chiharu Shiota

"Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood."

– George Orwell

5 topologically impossible ways to fold his socks that'll drive him to ontological madness