Went to a small, underfunded private HS, so the only Greek Mythology brought up when I was in school was the Apostle Paul in Athens.

Walked into this movie blind just knowing the director and the cast. Very easy to knitpick Christopher Nolan’s decisions for the movie but great adaptation and even better book.

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo: Mexican magic surrealism. One of the most unique reading experiences ever. I managed to get a coffee table book edition where each page had original photography by Josephine Sacabo.

The Tunnel by William Gass: 26 years in the making. Perhaps one of the greatest displays of English prose of the last 35 years. 650 pages of suffocation, it’s a relentless excavation of one man’s resentment, guilt, and self-loathing. Unfiltered darkness, yet somehow, amid all that moral decay, Gass produces some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read - his similes, metaphors and experimentation with design and typography were so inventive it became apart of the story.

Just picked up The Tunnel a few weeks ago on a whim, both excited by it and dreading opening it. Thanks for the review!

His short story collection was solid too, the man knew how to use words

Great pickup! They just reprinted it after years, previous copies were going for $100+

Damn that's wild, I got it at half price books for under $10. Love that place

thats hot

𝕁𝕌𝕃𝕐

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) 560 pages

A coming of age novel inspired by David Copperfield that tells the story of a young boy in rural Tennessee who grows up in poverty in a world ravaged by d*** addiction. I liked Kingsolver’s writing, the character development was strong, and I was engaged throughout the story, but there was something about this that underwhelmed me that I'm having trouble identifying. at times the tragedies the main character faced seemed manipulative but I think it was the handling of addiction and the opioid crisis that came across as more of a reporting on a hot topic than an authentic experience understood by the author. still liked this but just felt like something was missing

7.6/10

Passing by Nella Larsen (1929) 141 pages

short novel based in 1920’s Chicago and New York about a black woman who is reunited with a childhood friend who is passing for white. heard great things about this book, even that it was one of the best novels ever written, so maybe I had my expectations too high but I was let down by this one. I think mainly because of the length, it just felt like the relationships and characters weren’t fleshed out enough to really tackle such complex topics

7.0/10

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (2023) 122 pages

novella based on the true story of the drowning of 27 migrants that occurred between France and the UK after their dinghy capsized in 2021. told mostly from the perspective of the French coastguard who received the desperate telephone calls for help from the migrants, this book depicted the tragic event in the same cold and emotionless tone that the responder had in dealing with the victims. made for an interesting narrative choice that highlighted the bystander effect and level of detachment with which people view the migrant crisis. quick read that I had heard great things about but wasn't all that impressed with until the last ten pages or so, where the book ended with a strong message

7.3/10

Contrapposto by Dave Eggers (2026) 432 pages

well written Bildungsroman that goes on to tell almost the entire life of a young boy from the Midwest who turns to art and friendship to escape his childhood traumas. this genre of books that chronicle a whole life always seem to resonate with me and this one was no exception as I tore through it in just a few days. the story was peppered with art references and it was inspiring to see a passion awake and develop in the main character, while he also at times became disillusioned and frustrated with the art world. a complex yet relatable friendship between the main character and a girl two years older than him was what brought the whole story together. highly recommend for art lovers or those who like novels that cover decades of a life

8.5/10

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) 376 pages

finally got around to what is probably the most controversial novel of all time. story about a European pedophile who travels to the U.S. and falls in love with a 12 year old girl. although less graphic than I expected, this was still hard to read at times and I wouldn't say I enjoyed the reading experience. that said, the prose was very poetic and having an intellectual as the unreliable narrator committing abhorrent acts was an interesting choice and the depravity and paranoia the main character felt throughout was palpable. it's interesting to read afterwards people's different reactions and interpretations, and though I didn't really like this one, I respect it for its writing which is even more impressive knowing Nabokov was not a native English speaker

7.2/10

definitely not a good novel for a fashion accessory

I stumbled upon passages from this book years ago and they perfectly described how I was feeling, it was like Cioran had plucked the thoughts directly from my head and put them into words better than I ever could. However, after finally taking the time to read this book in its entirety, I don't find his writing to be nearly as hard hitting as I hoped. Maybe that's a testament to my improved mental state or maybe those few passages were all I needed but I just didn't end up enjoying the majority of his writing here. There are some beautiful and profound snippets to be found and undoubtedly a lot of it is going over my head but even the stuff that I fully grasped didn't resonate with me.

2.5/5

It was actually really easy to make something closer to Letterboxd/RYM search using an old Goodreads scrape from 2017

the misspelling here made me think about how much sense “knitpick” makes sense given the motion of knitting. turns out the word comes from Lice being called Nits back in the day. language is so crazy