Covers a lot of familiar territory, given how much I read about sports science as it is. Still, some fun anecdotes and interesting people whose work I should follow up on. Would recommend to someone who is curious about this stuff and doesn't have much background, very accessible.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
grendel
Holy moley, what a book! I thought of Cormac McCarthy when I was reading it, just because of the exuberance and occasional inventiveness of language, but this is way better than anything I've read by McCarthy except maybe The Road. Even just on that score, the little words Gardner invents here and there, the lightness and ease of it puts McCarthy's plodding gothic laboredness to shame.
Anyway this note shouldn't be all about a writer I dislike, because I really liked Grendel, a book and a character I will need to come back to. Magnificent, funny, lots to chew on. I should probably re-read Beowulf at some point. Gardner is on record as saying that the monster in his book is basically a vector for poking fun at the moral horror of Sartre. But man he's an appealing horror show.
Anyway this note shouldn't be all about a writer I dislike, because I really liked Grendel, a book and a character I will need to come back to. Magnificent, funny, lots to chew on. I should probably re-read Beowulf at some point. Gardner is on record as saying that the monster in his book is basically a vector for poking fun at the moral horror of Sartre. But man he's an appealing horror show.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
the talented mr. ripley
Wicked fast, awesome and creepy title character, suspenseful almost to the point of being hard to read, liked a lot.
books read 2015
1. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
2. Grendel, by John Gardner
3. Faster, Higher Stronger, by Mark McCluskey
4 Law and the Rise of Capitalism, by Michael Tigar and Madeleine Levy
5. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
6. On Immunity: an Inoculation, by Eula Biss
7. The Childhood of Jesus, by JM Coetzee
8. Ghettoside, by Jill Leovy
9. Slouching Toward Bethlehem, by Joan Didion
10. Field Work, by Seamus Heaney
11. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
12. Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
13. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
14. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
15. Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay
16. Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
17. One of Us, by Asne Seierstad
18. Snow White, by Donald Barthelme
19. Notes of a Native Son, by James Baldwin
20. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
21. The Tremor of Forgery, by Patricia Highsmith
22. The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
23. A Poetry Handbook, by Mary Oliver (second time)
24. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman (nth time)
24.75 The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
25. The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman (3rd(?) time)
26. The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman (3rd(?) time)
27. The Clocks, by Agatha Christie
28. Tourist Season, by Carl Hiaasen
29. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
30. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
31. Paradise, by Toni Morrison
32. Coming Into the Country, by John McPhee
33. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
34. Rum Punch, by Elmore Leonard
35. Room, by Emma Donoghue
36. The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin
37. The Moor's Account, by Laila Lalami
38. SPQR, by Mary Beard
39. The Gap of Time, by Jeanette Winterson
40. Strong Poison, by Dorothy Sayers
41. I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard, by Halley Feiffer
2. Grendel, by John Gardner
3. Faster, Higher Stronger, by Mark McCluskey
4 Law and the Rise of Capitalism, by Michael Tigar and Madeleine Levy
5. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
6. On Immunity: an Inoculation, by Eula Biss
7. The Childhood of Jesus, by JM Coetzee
8. Ghettoside, by Jill Leovy
9. Slouching Toward Bethlehem, by Joan Didion
10. Field Work, by Seamus Heaney
11. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
12. Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
13. Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
14. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
15. Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay
16. Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
17. One of Us, by Asne Seierstad
18. Snow White, by Donald Barthelme
19. Notes of a Native Son, by James Baldwin
20. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
21. The Tremor of Forgery, by Patricia Highsmith
22. The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
23. A Poetry Handbook, by Mary Oliver (second time)
24. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman (nth time)
24.75 The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
25. The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman (3rd(?) time)
26. The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman (3rd(?) time)
27. The Clocks, by Agatha Christie
28. Tourist Season, by Carl Hiaasen
29. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
30. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
31. Paradise, by Toni Morrison
32. Coming Into the Country, by John McPhee
33. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
34. Rum Punch, by Elmore Leonard
35. Room, by Emma Donoghue
36. The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin
37. The Moor's Account, by Laila Lalami
38. SPQR, by Mary Beard
39. The Gap of Time, by Jeanette Winterson
40. Strong Poison, by Dorothy Sayers
41. I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard, by Halley Feiffer
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