Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

 Just finished: Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee. This was so good. Voice-of-a-generation stuff. I've seen it compared to Severance (both the show and the book, which are entirely different stories by different authors with the same ibeq2

—sorry, new cat—

different stories by different authors with the same vibe, and both of which I loved. This is a little more magic realism than either of those but it raises similar questions of how to survive (ethically if possible, but it's not possible) within a capitalist hellscape bent on crushing you. Highly recommended.

Currently reading: The Tin Men by Michael Frayn. What if someone, writing in 1965, somehow predicted all of the dumbshit conversations we're having about AI. That'd be really funny, right? Ha ha funny. This one is about the William Morris Institute of Automation Research (hah), which is creating computers that can automate every task of human existence (hah) and they have to scramble because they're opening a new wing of the institute and the investors the Queen is visiting (haha). And when I say "all of the dumbshit conversations we're having," I mean there is a whole chapter about automating sports where I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or throw the book across the room. Of course they use it to write porn as well. This book is basically the classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. We have a white whale sighting, courtesy of the Rachel, a ship where the captain has lost his kid to Moby Dick's legitimate act of self-defence. Of course Ahab agrees to help ahahah no he doesn't he acts like a real moby dick about the whole thing. I bet the hubris will never catch up with him and everything will be fine. Also they use the coffin that Queequeg had built as a life preserver, because they're just going to steamroll ahead and ignore every single omen. There's another bit involving seals and mermaids, where it sounds like Melville/Ishmael is being hella racist but it is in fact the opposite of that.

This book is almost over and what will I do with my life then?

Comments

[selki]

*Billy Budd*? *Two Years Before the Mast*?

[sabotabby]

I was thinking Billy Budd!

Though, I suspect my next literary projects will be Epic of Gilgamesh and The Magic Mountain. The former is technically a reread since we covered it in high school, but I'm not even sure of the edition we were using. The latter—well, I have been thinking a lot about my high school English teacher lately, and that was his favourite book. But he said we wouldn't get it because as teenagers, we didn't have the life experience, and we should read it when we were older.

[greylock]

I suspect my next literary projects will be Epic of Gilgamesh

I would be interested in this.

[selki]

In my ex-co-worker's book club a couple of weeks ago, we were reading "Elektra" by Jennifer Saint, and the leader that month was all "Why do people still read stories about Troy but not about Gilgamesh any more? And I'm like, some people still do?

[greylock]

Troy had the horse!

Gilgamesh.... ate a root? I'll admit, my memory of Gilgamesh is terrible, and is rooted (pun intended) in the Disney 'myth and legends' encyclopedia I read as a kid. Reading the Wiki page I realised I had forgotten a lot.

But, when I was a kid, when others had the Egypt phase I ended up being more interested in Sumeria and Babylon.

[selki]

Also, I read the Wikipedia entry on The Magic Mountain and it's very interesting -- it talks about Mann's development as well as the book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Mountain

[sabotabby]

I've been meaning to read it for years and I'll probably hit my annual reading goal well before the end of the year.

[springheel_jack]

The two novels closest to Moby Dick are Redburn and White Jacket. Redburn didn't make any impression on me at all; White Jacket is like all the Ishmael bits without the whale stuff, the ahab stuff, or the psychosexual stuff.

The Confidence Man has its moments. Pierre is depressing.

[sabotabby]

Hmm, but my favourite bits are the whale stuff, the Ahab stuff, and the psychosexual stuff.

[radiantfracture]

Billy Budd then

[greylock]

This book is almost over and what will I do with my life then?

I have nautilius idea.

No really. I have no idea what will bring the crazy joy.
Admittedly, I had no idea how crazy MD was.

[sabotabby]

Nor did I.

[greylock]

I'm sure I mentioned way back: this is a "kid's" story.
So, i reckon you look for a book that is a chonka but has been Disneyfied.

I'm struggling to think of one. Robinson Crusoe? I mean...

[sabotabby]

This is not a kids story, no.

[blogcutter]

Re The Tin Men: What I find even funnier (ha ha) is that 60 years later, instead of creating computers that can automate every task of human existence, we are trying to remake humans in the computer's image, to the point that we now have to do all our errands, visit our doctor, correspond, indulge in recreational activities and pay all our bills online. Woe betide us if we have a problem to sort out that can't be stated in terms a computer can understand! Just yesterday while enjoying some free live music in the NAC atrium, a pleasant and congenial public space, there were signs posted to the effect of: verbal abuse and disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. This is not a place where brawls and rowdiness tend to be the order of the day. Have we really descended so far in our society that we actually expect people don't know how to treat our fellow humans any more?

[sabotabby]

Oh, good point.

I think it's all part and parcel of the downloading of responsibility to the individual. Corporate risk is socialized, individual risk is not. You're now doing the work at the grocery store cash register for free that a worker used to get paid to do, and paying more for the privilege. You are the product, etc.

[radiantfracture]

—sorry, new cat—

<3 <3 <3

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind

sampled.

[sabotabby]

New cat is A Lot.

I think you'll like Jonathan Abernathy.