RobF

Tonight I completed my first “circumnavigation” of Patrick O’Brian’s 20-volume Aubrey/Maturin cycle, begun in 2020. Eternal thanks to @darwin8u.bsky.social for sending me the books way back in the depths of the pandemic.

Congrats brother. I rarely reread anything, but O’Brian feels like something I could start from the beginning and never look back, just keep circumnavigating the cycle.

October reads. Fairly light month. Finished the Expanse ennealogy + short fiction, dug deeper into Sharpe, hung with Pynchon, Daddy Littell and about 4 different Nobel-winning authors.

My 13 September reads. The Sharpe novels are fun, but a literary shave below O’Brian. Loved The Pastor, Myth of Sisyphus, Florida, and Curran’s bio of Diderot. No bad books this month. Greene’s first novel shows a helluva voice for a writer in his twenties.

Schattenfroh’s home until I find a better space. I’m not sure if I should start it or wait until I’ve finished WTV’s Rising Up and Rising Down and Schmidt’s Bottom’s Dream. Too many White Whales, not enough Ahabs.

17 in August. Favorites? Both Kang. Both DeWitt. Johnson’s stories. Carrington’s Hearing Trumpet. Miller’s Crucible. Everett’s I am not SP. SGJ’s Mapping the Interior. The rest were solid too

Not as good as his earlier stuff (Cartel trilogy is his high water). But a good set of distraction novels. Last one kinda stalled out a bit.

Just picked up from a British LeCarré friend the original BBC TTSS & S’sP today, with original soundtrack. We are definitely surfing similar waves Luke.

This first year of Trump 2.0 also seems Pynchon adjacent.

Also, I tend to drag out the last few novels of authors I adore. LeCarré is all finished and there are no new gems, which is rather depressing.

Oh, I’ve read it. Super excited for the adaptation(?). Movie appears inspired by/soul sister to, but quasi adaption is a good description.

July was light.

No. I’m now 6/9 into the Expanse series and I’m now so far into that relationship we are picking out drapery together. I’ll have to check out Revelation. I might need a bit of a rest from hard sci-fi after this.

Xenophon!! Ich liebe Loebs.

Probably the safest place to be.

I adore @mdbell79.bsky.social and this one was so good. Felt a bit like standing on a literary tesseract. Whenever I felt settled, secure, I realized the novel’s surface just changed.

Hollywood Nocturnes felt like a rough draft of what would later be done better in Ellroy’s LA Quartet & yet to be finished LA Quintet. The first three Expanse novels were very good. Fleming’s Diamond Smugglers was meh. Dark Companion and Burnt Orange Heresy were both very good.

June reads. Buffalo Hunter Hunter was fantastically executed. Adolescent was very good and the last of Dostoevsky's big six for me to read. Lamb writes good stories, just not great history.

Late throwing this on here, but my May reads. Favorites? Bell’s In the House Upon.., Evenson’s Altmann’s Tongue, Fresán’s Melvill, Kohlhaas’ Heinrich von Kleist, Rilke’s Dark Interval, Ørstavik’s Love, Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress, le Carré’s Letters, & Xenophon’s Memorabilia.

When is it going to be published in the US? I can get a Corsair copy, but I'd love to see it on Kindle and Audible too.

a cartoon character with the words stupid stupid stupid in yellow letters ALT: a cartoon character with the words stupid stupid stupid in yellow letters

My Top 5 sentence in the OP was awkward because the other 4 were all author names (and one was translator + author). With PP I didn’t use Rulfo, I used Páramo.

Top 5. Loved it. Translation was great. Enjoyed Murderbot and the Stand, but LOVED Rulfo.

18 in April. Can’t believe it took me this long to read the Stand. Top 5 of the month? Páramo, Alter, Mitchell’s Rilke, Fosse, Evenson. I really enjoyed the Murderbot series (clearly, I read all 7 this month), the Stand, and the last two of Jones’s Angel of Indian Lake Trilogy.

China Miéville On Past Triumphs, The Troublesome Present And New Futures The visionary author reflects on a new edition of his 25 year-old classic Perdido Street Station and discusses the impact of tech dystopias on current events.

“When I look back at [Perdido Street Station] now, it’s such a young person’s book,” said Miéville in an exclusive phone interview earlier this month. “In terms of the writing, I couldn't write this now. I think I'm a better writer in some respects, but...

14 for February. Folio Edition of 'The Mirror of the Sea' also has another memoir of Conrad's: ‘A Personal Record!'

Favorites this month?: Conrad, McPhee, Borges, Alter, and Fosse. Vollmann was like bad medicine that works. Davis had a lot of potential. Banville’s done better.

Reading Joseph Conrad’s two memoirs: Mirror of the Sea (1906) and Personal Record (1912). Lovely.

Back on my Borgeshit!

Snoop and Tom Brady: say no to hate

Kendrick: actually

Reading in February in Arizona.