What is it with books about "walking the shores of England and letting your thoughts ramble." It is the second one in those lines I've read that has bWhat is it with books about "walking the shores of England and letting your thoughts ramble." It is the second one in those lines I've read that has been such a drag (Salt Path was the first, although there they were homeless and documented their journey). When I was about halfway through I came to Goodreads to see if I am the only one who doesn't "get" this supposedly brilliant book. And to be honest I found the two-star reviews more entertaining than the book itself.
So what do we have here? Someone walks the shores of England and just talks about whatever pops into his mind. Or more precisely, not quite whatever but what visual stimuli he happens to encounter, bring about. Now, this sounds like a fantastic premise and I bet many great books have been written this way. But in order to do that, you have to write in an engaging way. And this I think was the biggest problem of this book. Not the subject matter but the way it was brought to the reader. It was just so incredibly dry. I did like the sections where Sebald described the nature around him, how he moved from one place to another but as soon as he got my attention, my emotions involved, imagination running - bang there was another dull 10-page section of someone or something he cared about but couldn't bring the reader to care about too.
The thing with writing about anything for short sections, without much introduction is that you have to do it really well to lure the reader in. This read like a tedious history textbook to me. And I couldn't wait to have my homework done to go out to play....more
Kaasahaarav lugu sõjaaegsest põgenemisest teismelise tüdruku silme läbi. Vaatamata takistustele, tohututele ebamugavustele, hirmule ja teadmatusele säKaasahaarav lugu sõjaaegsest põgenemisest teismelise tüdruku silme läbi. Vaatamata takistustele, tohututele ebamugavustele, hirmule ja teadmatusele säilitasid põgenikud optimismi ja lootuse. Sellest oleks nii mõndagi tänapäeva mugavustsoonis olijatel õppida - millistes oluldes on siiski võimalik hoida pea püsti, mitte kalduda enesehaletsusse ning virinasse. Põgenikel oli ka omajagu õnne - paljudest täbaratest seikadest tuldi õnnelikult välja. Erti meeldis raamatu struktuur. -eellugu, päevik ise ning lõpus intervjuu autoriga aastast 2020. Samuti andsid hea konteksti fotod ning raamatu sisekaanel olev kaart põgenemisteekonnast. Raamat on ka märkimisväärselt maitsekalt kujundatud. Soovituslik kõigile, kes soovivad realistlikku pilti sellest, mida tähendas sõja ajal jätta oma kodu, lähedased, olla pidevas teadmatuses tuleviku osas ning ometi rühkida edasi....more
This is a remarkable work on non-fiction and a long-overdue book on a subject that has so far been ignored - the victims perspective on Jack the RippeThis is a remarkable work on non-fiction and a long-overdue book on a subject that has so far been ignored - the victims perspective on Jack the Ripper murders. In fact, this book gives basically no information about the murderer apart the theory that he might have had a medical background because of the anatomical knowledge it took to cause the specific injuries. Instead of talking about Jack, Hallie Rubenhold takes us into the lives of Victorian-era women. Each chapter is about one of the victims and her life from birth to the murder. Those stories are heartbreaking, to say the least. We are so used to watching period dramas for the costumes and good manners. The working class is always portrayed in faded subtle colorite with cheeks rosy from working outside in the cold. Well, the reality was dirty, there was a lot of disease, death, guilt, anger, tears, grief and hunger. Rubenhold has done impressive research and her storytelling skills further bring those women close to the reader. Over a hundred years later there is finally someone who has taken the time and effort to communicate to the world that those women we not "just prostitutes" - they each had a story and eventually suffered from circumstances that were very far from normality. This book is not only a good reminder of how bad women had it in the past but also a very informative and interesting glimpse into the daily life of Victorian-era working class and poor. Recommended for everyone interested in this time period and also for those interested in the history of women's rights....more
Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones attempts to show us the science behind intuitive knowledge that being in nature is good for us.Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones attempts to show us the science behind intuitive knowledge that being in nature is good for us. If the reader hasn't read any psychology book before this may all be very fascinating, but otherwise it gets a bit repetitive. Fight or flight syndrome, rising cortisol levels with continuous stress, more schizophrenia in dense urban areas, the evolutionary reason why the urban setting is just not right for us - it is all quite well known. There was a ton of research that the author relied upon to show us evidence of why it is good to be outdoors but with most of it, I stumbled upon the problem of cause and effect. Most of the studies in psychology are conducted in a way that there is very little certainty that A causes B. For that certain humans should be in isolated conditions like lab rats and of course, this is unthinkable. There is only that much we can do to study behaviour. So yes we can presume that it was the fresh air that lowered the stress level and when our sample is big enough the significance of the finding is important enough. More interesting to me were the bits in the book where she ventured into biology - different bacteria in the soil for example and how they are being used in medicine. Also, I was very touched by the last chapters of the book where she described the extinction of species due to loss of habitat. I am aware that this is going on in many places in the world but Lucy Jones made me care and pay attention even more. Overall a nice take and a reminder that urbanization poses many problems and if we become too comfortable and don't get out of our boxes at all, this may cause serious issues for us and the future generations and above all the planet itself. The less the current generation is in contact with nature the less the future one will be and therefore care for the protection of the planet. ...more
Noore ühiskonnana on Eestis endiselt kirgi küttev kõik mis seondub materiaalse eduga ja selle kiiresti saavutamisega. "Vana raha" generatsioone meil pNoore ühiskonnana on Eestis endiselt kirgi küttev kõik mis seondub materiaalse eduga ja selle kiiresti saavutamisega. "Vana raha" generatsioone meil pole. Kes on jõukad said selleks kauboikapitalismi 90ndatel seega rikkad inimesed on enamasti self-made ja loomulikult otsivad kõik teid, et saada jõukamaks võimalikult kiiresti ja kindla peale.
Roosaare õpik mulle mingeid erilisi uusi teadmisi mõistliku finantskäitumise osas ei andnud. Rakendasin paljut tema soovitatust juba enne. Kuid kindlasti leidub inimesi kelle jaoks paljud neist nippidest on midagi mida nad igapäevaselt ei kasuta ning kelle rahaline hügieen tunduvalt paraneb peale selle õpiku lugemist. Seega jah - olen eelkõnelejatega nõus, et see raamat on midagi mis peaks olema kohustuslikus kooliprogrammis sees. Et noor inimene saaks aru kuidas raha ühiskonnas ringi käib ning kuidas sellega ise ümber käia, et ta sind teeniks mitte ei orjastaks. Samuti on tore, et üldiselt kutsub Roosaar üles arutust tarbimisest loobuma ja soovitab tarbida kogemusi mitte asju.
Kuid! Läbivalt oli mul tunne, et see on siiski õpik noorele hormoonidest möllavale mehele, kes ei karda võtta riske ja kes vastutab vaid enda eest. Nt soovitused arvega töötasule versus tööleping - Roosaar ilmselt ei ole kursis, et paljud naised vajavad hädasti emapalka ja muid sotsiaalseid garantiisid kui perekonda loovad? Riskialdis olemine on samuti nende inimeste luksus kes vastutavad vaid enda eest ja pole veel pere loonud. Väga häiris ka see, et raamatu alguses hoiatab ta tuliselt kiirlaenude jms eest (õigusega) raamatu teises pooles aga räägib pikalt laialt erinevatest viisidest kuidas teenida inimeste pealt kes on erinevatel põhjustel on läinud kiirlaenude tarbimise teed.
Üldiselt ladusalt kirjutatud ja kindlasti vajalik neile kes üldse ei tea kuidas oma raha peale mitte vihane olla ja omale natukenegi paremat tulevikku kindlustada....more
This was such a wonderful book to read whilst in my small summer cottage, walking around in my garden each morning counting the new mole mounds tha3.5
This was such a wonderful book to read whilst in my small summer cottage, walking around in my garden each morning counting the new mole mounds that had appeared during the night. Those small animals are so clever and so difficult to get rid of (I haven't tried myself). Marc Hamer gives an interesting overview of the mole as a species, of those little hard-working blind animals. And at the same time, the book is an ode to nature and a memoir of his time as a homeless young man just walking for months and months in nature, observing it, creating a life long bond with it. He emphasises how important it is to just let nature be. Not to have your lawn manicured to perfection, not to use pesticides to kill insects and poison moles. They were there first and we should learn to live side by side with them. I wholeheartedly agree. On my own little patch of green, I try to leave many things untouched. So the soil would be more fertile and birds would have more interesting material to collect for their nests and to eat. This is how it should be ideally and Hamer argues it so well in his book. A great book for any nature lover and an eye-opener for a gardener who despises moles. ...more
The author has a really warm and compassionate voice. Reading the book felt like having a drink with your bestie who is giving you the much-needed pepThe author has a really warm and compassionate voice. Reading the book felt like having a drink with your bestie who is giving you the much-needed pep talk. I have checked the author’s social media account and she seems a genuinely sweet person. I am sure she has aided many people in their journey to emotional well being. And she calls herself a coach, not a psychotherapist.
However, I can't imagine this book offering any new insights to anyone who has ever done some 3 AM self-analysis driven by existential dread. It boldly claims to cure you from comparing yourself to others. The whole 272 pages of it though, can be summed as - if you are working towards your own goals and have passion for the thing you do, you will care less of what others are doing. It is largely advice on how to do your “inner work” and how to be a more “authentic version of yourself”. Taking notes, starting the morning with yoga, self-care etc. There were quite a few good insights but the majority of it was pretty bland and obvious. On top of that it was heavily social media targeted - a lot of advice was in the lines of “don’t worry if you don’t have 50k followers in six months, you’ll get there!”
The self-help genre tends to “one size fits all". Of course, doing your own thing won’t cure you of comparing yourself to others. It might alleviate it to a tolerable degree but our self-worth and self-esteem is something that fluctuates constantly and is deeply rooted in childhood and dependent on many other factors. I am a firm believer in psychoanalytic therapy. Improving one's mental health is hard work and but in the end, you have a new perspective on yourself. And it is work that never ends.
I dare to say that books like that are almost an insult to the complexities of human nature. They simplify things to no end. No more than a magazine column advertised as a magical cure, a straw for the hesitant, a quick read for those who can’t afford more. And you may end up questioning “Why it doesn’t work? Why am I still feeling inadequate?”
Being curious about oneself, analysing oneself and having the resources to do that, we must never forget, is a privilege. Many people don’t have the time, means and opportunities to address the traumas or insecurities they are carrying around. Self-help, I’ve always thought, often diminish the vast ocean that our inner world is to a mere note taking and goal targeting. You may say that this is the monetizable format we have nowadays, short and easily digestible. Yes, true, but it can be done well too - Esther Perel for a good example. ...more
Pigeons are a bit silly with their rocking heads and cooing, always in groups, always shitting on your car when you have just washed it. Majority of pPigeons are a bit silly with their rocking heads and cooing, always in groups, always shitting on your car when you have just washed it. Majority of people think of them as a nuisance but I love them and have always suspected that they are more intelligent than people give them credit for. I've wondered why do we never see the tiny pigeons as we do see seagull babies in the city. Where do pigeons nest? How can they survive in a hostile urban environment?
Jon Day's Homing talks about that and a lot more. It is a memoir, cultural history of a home and nature writing about birds. And it all comes together beautifully.
Day entwines his own move to a new neighbourhood, becoming a parent and being confused about what it means to create a new home with his first attempts of pigeon racing. The idea of pigeon racing is that they always return home. They are released from far away and those who fly home the fastest win. They always find a way home. How they manage to do it has been marvelled at for hundreds of years. There is fascinating historical information about pigeon racing and pigeons in general in the book. There are also heaps of cultural references about home as a concept. And if that is not enough a very thorough bibliography for further reading.
The only shortcoming of this book was the almost complete lack discussing ethics of pigeon racing. The birds are well kept and groomed and of course, and live safer lives than feral birds. But there are also some methods that are far from ethical and considerate.
Books that squash a lot of different genres and ideas into one often fail as they lose focus. Homing had it all nicely balanced. It is an informative and at the same time very moving and personal book. I hope it makes more people respect pigeons and see them as beautiful and smart birds as they are, not as unloved vermins....more
I doubt that anyone will be left cold by this seemingly unbelievable story of the Galvin family. 12 children and 6 of them diagnosed with schizophreniI doubt that anyone will be left cold by this seemingly unbelievable story of the Galvin family. 12 children and 6 of them diagnosed with schizophrenia. The chapters about the family were alternating with the state of the schizophrenia research until they joined - the Galvin family became a research subject themself. Their story is so depressing that I actually couldn't believe that the mother herself didn't lose her mind amidst all the violence, sexual abuse and pressure. The first two-thirds of the book was really gripping - as the children fell ill one by one and how it affected the family dynamics. But at the end the book became a jotted down series of facts, the writing became somewhat dry and there wasn't any tension to keep up my interest. As it was written in journalistic style one could say it had lost its "news value" -the author had exhausted its sources. I left the last 40 or so pages unread but still a fascinating book nevertheless. And great to see that this unhappy story is got written down so we can see how far we've become in treating schizophrenia and especially in seeing how it is a disease with a biological origin as opposed to the view prevalent in the 60's - that the upbringing is to blame. ...more
“The School of Life: An Emotional Education” is a reassuring and sane voice in the world of constant self-improvement, instant gratification, life-wre“The School of Life: An Emotional Education” is a reassuring and sane voice in the world of constant self-improvement, instant gratification, life-wrecking perfectionism and outdated romantic ideals. A book that so well captures the perplexity of being human that it should be read by everyone.
It is divided into five parts: Self, Others, Relationships, Work and Culture. Those chapters don’t give you any upbeat tips on how to improve yourself or tackle certain situations. Instead, with a bit of very subtle dry humour, they describe the tiny emotional battles each day of being alive makes us face and says that it is okay, you are doing fine. Actually - you are doing your best. Now treat yourself and go take a barefoot walk in the garden and feel the sun on your face because this certainly will do you more good than giving in to another capitalist lure of buying something.
Alain de Botton is an advocate for the tender-hearted. He knows that a harsh word can linger on your mind for days and “getting over things” fast is not something everyone should feel is within their emotional capabilities. He knows ALL the types of arguments we are having in our relationships and with remarkable ease and little help of psychoanalysis shows us that we are hurting in one or more ways and therefore pick a fight. Sure, we all know it is never about the unwashed dishes but how much we analyse our the emotions behind our actions on a day to day basis? Not enough, I dare say.
There is so much to take home from this book that I don’t even know what to point out. I am fairly sure we will see it becoming Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence for the modern era. ...more
You can tell that Kate Murphy has a background as a journalist because this whole book reads like a good article. It essentially follows the same 3.5.
You can tell that Kate Murphy has a background as a journalist because this whole book reads like a good article. It essentially follows the same formula throughout the book - presents a problem/example from real life, throws you a scientific study or information that explains/solves it and moralizes a fair bit. Actually more than a fair bit. But it is so readable that I read the 224 pages in two sittings. Why it is isn't an excellent nonfiction book is that it states the obvious about 75% of the time. Of course, this is largely what the majority of social science is about - showing that there is actually data backing up what seems like a "no brainer". However, I find books like this necessary because believe me there are plenty of people who never even passing thought questions themself if they are good listeners and if not how can they be better. Also, there are plenty who are not familiar with what goes on when two people converse and how to read the clues. This book has an audience and I am sure it is a revelatory read for many. The strongest chapter in it was about supporting versus shifting listening (drawing the attention to oneself instead of being curious about the other person's thoughts). This is something I very often do myself and I will surely try not to as much in the future. The other thing that was interesting was the benefit of focus group interviews with companies - I had always thought those hardly give any good insight and numerical data is the king. Turns out it isn't so and focus groups are actually a gold mine in consumer research. Overall, this book is worth reading as it won't take up much of your time, will entertain you and will definitely make you pay more attention and be a more attentive listener. ...more
It took me ages to finish this one probably because it caused me such anxiety and to be honest, depressed me so, that I tolerated it only in small dosIt took me ages to finish this one probably because it caused me such anxiety and to be honest, depressed me so, that I tolerated it only in small doses. The continuous striving for greater and greater efficiency and doing things faster (what AI largely aims for) - it reminds me of a hamster wheel that at one point will fall over. We all know that more efficiency will not give us more free time. Quite the contrary - the wheel will start to spin even faster. Let the hamster rather take a leisurely walk and not be so agitated all the time. Nevertheless, I have to join the choir of praise. "Human Compatible" is essential reading when you want to know about AI, the threats it poses and what could be the possible solutions. Living in a country that identifies itself as a forerunner in everything IT related much of what Russell talked about hit close home. Sometimes it seems that it is the only sector worthy of any heightened attention here. You hardly ever hear anyone speaking about what great psychologist, nurses or whatever other helping profession workers we have. This has created a dichotomy and immense wage caps in the society and I can only see it getting worse. The irony is though, that when "the robots will take over" helping (and creative) professions become very in demand. Stuart assures us that the machines will not be taking over anytime soon though. Yet he still poses examples where a great breakthrough in science has been a matter of one idea or solution and how it changed everything very very fast. He also stresses that to be ready for superintelligence we have to act now, make regulations now and acknowledge that when human superior intelligence is here, it is beyond us and the mechanisms we think will work to protect us when the need should arise ("you can just switch it off") will not be efficient. He states that we can't ban AI research (as it is successfully done with DNA modification or example) as there are too many interested parties for whom it will be hugely profitable. Also, there are benefits for humankind if it is done carefully and keeping in mind certain principles (that he addresses in the book). "Human Compatible" is written is a clear tone with plenty of examples and sectioned down to smaller bites. It succeeds what it is aimed to do - to educate the general reader, without any previous knowledge, about AI. ...more
In "St Petersburg: Three Centuries of Murderous Desire" Jonathan Miles has taken up a remarkable task to describe St Petersburg form the birth of the In "St Petersburg: Three Centuries of Murderous Desire" Jonathan Miles has taken up a remarkable task to describe St Petersburg form the birth of the city until the present day. The idea itself is of course fantastic. I have always seen cities, especially grand cities that St Petersburg surely is, like living organisms. Ever-changing, always reflecting the happiness and state of its inhabitants. Always greater than the sum of their parts. A single house can tell you so many stories let alone the whole city itself. Of course, 560 pages (the English edition - I read it in Estonian) is not nearly enough for three centuries of St Petersburg history. Perhaps one 500 page volume for each century would have been sufficient. Also, this book is not written by a historian specialised in Russian history and you could tell that when reading. Despite that, I found it succeeded in what it aimed to do. It gave a general overview touching all the tsars (the better-known ones got more chapters) and all the major historical events in St Petersburg. It also always tried to give a brief overview of the cultural history of the city - some information on writers, artists, musicians who were active during that time. And most importantly it gave a pretty good idea what the overall atmosphere, vibe and conditions were for regular people on each century. This I think was what made the made the book good enough to forgive the very generalised approach. As a reader, I got to know about the conditions of daily life during the time when the city was built, when the tensions were building up and what it was like under a totalitarian regime. All the information was not new to me, for example, the part of building the city I was familiar with before thanks to Robert K. Massie's fantastic Peter The Great biography I read a few years ago. Also, the Soviet time's hardships were nothing new as I have heard about that from a very direct source - my parents. And about the revolution(s) I just read a book about. Still, it was good to have one continuous narrative written in a readable style that manages to keep the readers' attention throughout the book. Miles' book will probably be a bit repetitive for those well versed in Russian history but I think it is a good read for those with not much background information. It is also not the best book to give you an idea of the "Russian spirit" - for example, Helen Rappaport who writes about Russian history extensively has grasped it better (as a foreigner). The only things I thought missing was the general overview of the current state of Russia was in before Peter started building the city - just a few pages would have been enough. ...more
A very accessible account of the period between the February Revolution and October Revolution as seen through the eyes of the foreigners who were in A very accessible account of the period between the February Revolution and October Revolution as seen through the eyes of the foreigners who were in Petrograd at that time - diplomats, journalists, nurses, businessmen and so on. Rappaport has used an impressive amount of materials - letters, articles, diaries - to tell the story. Therefore the book covers daily life in a great matter. What people ate (or mainly, didn’t), how they spent their time, how the foreigners were saved from all the violent acts (until it became too dangerous for them as well) - the overall mood and atmosphere of the city and ordinary folk. This, entwined with the political machinations and Rappaport’s simply good and clear writing results in a highly readable yet clear and emotional account of what happened in Russia during those tumultuous months. I dare to say that Rappaport has even, to some extent, pinpointed down the Russian spirit in her writing.
Despite the horrifying violence, the book is not deadly grim. People still wanted to drink, go to the theatre and live their lives. If there is anything negative to say at all then maybe that it was not as in-depth on political matters as some other books probably are. Although I found it to be sufficiently so to gather a full understanding of the events that took place.
I very much recommend Caught in the Revolution to anyone who is even slightly interested in Russian history....more
A month of strolling in an old Italian town looking at art can provoke a lot of jealousy. Who wouldn't want to do it? And of course, you will imagi3.5
A month of strolling in an old Italian town looking at art can provoke a lot of jealousy. Who wouldn't want to do it? And of course, you will imagine writing a book about it. Most people couldn't pull it through and it would be a tedious and self-centred account with a hint of privilege.
Hisham Matar spent a month in Siena, wrote about it and I think he managed to create something very beautiful and important. With only 116 pages it is a slim novel. The passages where he looks at the painting and describes them are entwined with his own thoughts of time, closeness, the meaning of places and their history in our lives and a lot more. People describing and analysing art is one of my least favourite things in books (along with crowded/dinner parties and spatial descriptions in nature such as valleys and hills) so those parts did not touch me personally.
What made up for it were the unbelievably precise observations about life, that seemed to come out of nowhere. There he was, stepping into a museum when suddenly there is a paragraph of the darkness one feels when imagining loved ones leading a life parallel to ours, how the closeness is a mere illusion. Or how tenderly he describes the people who we almost never notice - the guards in the museums. How they have been "burdened with the impossible task" of protecting the paintings they know they are incapable to protect.
At times, I could feel the vulnerability of the author so strongly that it was almost unbearable. It is a rare thing in literature, that the writer comes so close, although he is just articulating universal truths. I guess Matar managed to find those tiny, unseen truths, that we know are there but always fail to notice....more
A book about a thirty-something woman going through a midlife crisis and abandoning her conventional life to go soul searching in Asia - haven't we heA book about a thirty-something woman going through a midlife crisis and abandoning her conventional life to go soul searching in Asia - haven't we heard all of it MANY times before? Yes, we have and yes we did again. Here the backbone of the book is supposed to be the protagonist's quest to understand who Sei Shōnagon, the author of "The Pillow Book" was. For that, she takes a year off, with "partly paid vacation" money (what is this "partly paid year-long vacation"? can I have one too please? I am in crisis) and some additional funds she manages to get by applying to various institutions with claims to write a book during her sabbatical. Our narrator is then overcome with supreme anxiety what will become of her and what will this year bring. Well she should've called me and I could've told her that nothing to worry about, you are going to Japan all expenses paid, you don't have to work, can just eat and chillax and even go to a few weeks to a beach resort in Thailand when the earthquake happens not to be present and god forbid not to do any volunteering for which you'd had plenty of time given that you didn't have to work. So that was the irritating, privileged part of the book. She does manage to describe Japan in a way that makes it interesting for me, which is something I have never felt. Unlike almost everyone I know, I don't share the fascination for this country. I am curious to visit but I am more curious to go to the Azores for example. The sections about Sei alternate with her daily life in Kyoto and some of the latter is really genuinely interesting. However, in the end, it falls flat. I would've expected a deeper dissection of her own crisis, not just a travel diary. In the end, I was left with a feeling that someone got the money to take a year off and as she promised to write something during that time, she did but the writing lacked meaning and purpose. Her writing was good enough though and the prose flowy enough to carry the book off and make for a semi satisfying read. Could've been about 100 pages shorter though....more
How to write 280 pages about yourself and get away with it? Alexander Chee surely does and you will want to hug him when you finish the last page of hHow to write 280 pages about yourself and get away with it? Alexander Chee surely does and you will want to hug him when you finish the last page of his essay collection.“How to Write an Autobiographical Novel”. It is largely about his journey of becoming a writer. He talks about the highs and lows, disappointments and odd jobs he had to take to keep himself afloat while writing his first novel. This is mixed with chapters that are about his friends, growing roses and dressing up as a girl, to give a few examples. It makes a mix of all kinds of wonderful.
His writing is so personal, he does not hold back at all. This vulnerability makes you respect him. Whilst doing his MFA in the Iowa Writer’s Workshop a fellow student asks him why should he care about Chee’s characters. From then on Chee vowed that “I will make you care”. And I did. Care for his struggles, his losses and his trauma. The latter was a line that ran through the book. Childhood abuse that he experienced was the basis of his first novel "Edinburgh". The essays emphasising on that felt more like his try to make sense of it himself. I felt that I was witnessing something very intimate and maybe I should not be reading it. It felt almost voyeuristic. They were not as clear and touching as the other essays but I can see how they were an essential part of this essay collection, maybe even the backbone of it. I want to read Chee’s debut novel “Edinburgh” soon and am very intrigued what will it be like because it took him seven years to write it.
“How to Write an Autobiographical Novel” is essential reading to everyone who writes. Finally, someone tells the truth that it is hard work and you don’t just “sit down and do it”. Also debunks the myth that talent is all you need and if you don’t have the talent you cannot succeed as a writer. There is a lot you can teach yourself about writing. I especially liked that Chee went into details about how he struggled financially - you hardly ever hear the backstories that preceded success and the fact that even when success comes the money troubles may not be all solved....more
The Outermost House chronicles Henry Beston's year of living in his beach hut on the beach of Cape Cod. Each chapter is about a different natural phenThe Outermost House chronicles Henry Beston's year of living in his beach hut on the beach of Cape Cod. Each chapter is about a different natural phenomenon or time of the year at the beach. It was written in 1928 and is considered a classic in the genre of nature writing. Being a great lover of the big open water The Outermost House, of course, got me very curious the moment I first heard about it.
I can't say I was disappointed by it but it wasn't quite what I expected. The prose was not as poetic as I hoped it would be. Funnily I didn't feel I was carried there, to the great beach almost at all. At times it felt like a logbook kept out of boredom. But there were chapters that were very good too. I especially liked The Headlong Wave which described the waves of Cape Cod - surely the most lulling part of the ocean. I think this book works best for those who have actually been there - on the Cape Cod beach. One of the reasons why Beston's writing maybe fell short for me was that English isn't my native language and despite having a fairly good command of it one thing that always poses difficulties for me is grasping the spatial descriptions of nature. The terminology is not something I am always fully familiar with and the images fail to form in front of my eyes. Perhaps I would have had a different reading experience if I had read it in my native language. ...more
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