#John M. Neale

[warningsine]

http://libgen.li/edition.php?id=136639771

[nerds-yearbook]

Die Another Day was released on November 22, 2002. The movie was the 20th EON James Bond film, 40th anniversary of the Eon Bond films, the last Bond film to feature Pierce Brosnan as Bond, and the first EON Bond film not to feature Desmond Llewelyn as Q since Live and Let Die (Llewelyn had died and John Cleese's character was promoted to Q). The movie was a financial success, but a critical failure. There were plans to use it as pilot for a spin off franchise for the new character Jinx played by Halle Berry, but nothing ever came of it. The movie also marked the last time Samantha Bond played Moneypenny. ("Die Another Day" James Bond Movie Event)

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Hell yeah, now I have all but five of the Babylon 5 novels. All I need now are Final Reckoning, Casting Shadows, and the novelizations of In the Beginning, Thirdspace, and A Call to Arms.

I love how the titles on some of these range from boring and utilitarian to amazing:

Also, they chose some interesting angles to show the station from on a couple of these:

[quasi-normalcy]

A while ago while I was in tumblr jail, you posted that you had a masters in science fiction literature (unless you didn't, I have been known to be mistaken), and I am wondering, what do you consider 'important' works of science fiction? Like the science fiction literary canon? I am so curious. Feel free to ignore, I will not harass you.

Yes! I do. I can tell you the ones that I was assigned (I'm afraid that the list skews extremely male and (especially) white).

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937) [You can probably add Odd John (1935) to this list]

Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870) [You can probably add From the Earth to the Moon (1865)]

H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1897) [Though you can probably go ahead and add The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The First Men in the Moon (1901)]

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915)

Catherine Burdekin (writing as Murray Constantine), Swastika Night (1937)

Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (1920)

Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (1950) [You can probably add the first three Foundation novels here as well]

Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (1921)

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1967) and Rendezvous with Rama (1973) [Add: Childhood's End (1953) and The Fountains of Paradise (1979)

John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids (1951) [add: The Chrysalids (1955) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)]

H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926) [add The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931)]

Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954)

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination (1956)

Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers (1959) [Probably Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) too, depending on, you know, how much of Heinlein's bullshit you can take]

J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World (1962) [Also, The Burning World (1964) and The Crystal World (1966)]

Phillip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle (1962) [Also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and several of his short stories]

Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)

Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man (1969)

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-5 (1969)

Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed (1974) [Also The Lathe of Heaven (1971) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)]

Brian Aldiss, Supertoys series

William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)

Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (1992) [Also Green Mars and Blue Mars]

They also included Iain M. Banks's The Algebraist (2004), but I personally think you'd be better off reading some of his Culture novels

Other ones that I might add (not necessarily my favourite, just what I would consider the most influential):

Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (1974)

Matsamune Shiro, Ghost in the Shell (1989-91)

Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira (1982-1990)

Octavia Butler, Lilith's Brood (1987-89) and Parable of the Sower (1993)

Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos (1971)

Hector Garman Oesterheld & Francisco Solano Lopez, The Eternaut (1957-59)

Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem (2008)

Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975)

William Hope Hodgson, The House on the Borderland (1908)

Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (1992)

Joanna Russ, The Female Man (1975)

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (1985) [Please take this one from a library]

Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars (1912)

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and Oryx and Crake (2003)

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)

Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy (1952-68)

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)

Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

[janes-eyebrows]

Hello,

this post is not like my usual on this blog, but I feel it is important to share. As an American living in the U.S, I have high concern and fear of the next four years for a number of reasons. One of those concerns is the banning of books. My middle & high school years took place between 2011-2017, and A LOT of books I had to read back then are no longer teachable/available in public school libraries, bookstores, etc. This should not be happening as the banning of books if a form of censorship. Those who are at the forefront of banning these books do it under the guise of protecting the younger generation, but let's be real, they do it because they do not like the material/themes in the books.

Reading is political, the consumption and critical analyzation of literature is political. Censoring books is a form of control. Read banned books!!

Below the cut I've listed banned books everyone should read. Several of these have been banned for decades, and some over the last few years. You'll probably recognize a lot of them and might even be shocked at some. I'll also list books/series that focus on dystopian/totalitarian governments that you should read as how the governments in these books reflect issues present today or were inspired by real events, as well as book recs involving themes of sexuality, race, gender, etc.

Also be sure to check out Banned & Challenged Books | Banned Books from the American Library Association

Banned/Challenged Books In America

(remember to check content warnings before reading)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Animal Farm by George Orwell 1984 by George Orwell I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Beloved by Toni Morrison The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Lord of the Flies by William Golding The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein The Giver by Lois Lowery Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Girl, Interrupted by Susana Kaysen The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer Looking for Alaska by John Green My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertelli

Books recs about a corrupt/totalitarian governments & dystopian/Sci-fi/fantasy

(remember to check content warnings)

Legend Series by Marie Lu (my absolute fav series ever) Skyhunter series by Marie Lu Warcross Series by Marie Lu (banned in Florida) The Young Elites Series by Marie Lu (banned in Florida) Girls of Paper and Fire Series by Natasha Ngan Renegades by Marissa Meyer The Gilded Ones Series by Namina Forna (banned in Florida) Arc of Scythe Series by Neal Shusterman Unwind Series by Neal Shusterman Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Fledging by Octavia E. Butler Severance by Ling Ma Dune by Frank Herbert

Book recs that are LGBTQIA+, Race, Gender, and themes the government is trying to/might ban/challenge

(check content warnings before reading)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (banned in Florida) In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens These Dead Prophecies by Andrea Tang Match to Love by Johana Gavez Score to Love by Johana Gavez A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (Banned in Florida) The World's Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (banned in Florida)

Feel free to add your recs or any banned books I may have missed!! Spread the word!!

[the-forest-library]

December 2024 Reads

Orbital - Samantha Harvey

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

Fox 8 - George Saunders

The Muse of Maiden Lane - Mimi Matthews

Finding Mr. Write - Kelley Armstrong

Cole and Laila Are Just Friends - Bethany Turner

P.S. I Hate You - Lauren Connolly

Not in My Book - Katie Holt

The Rules of Royalty - Cale Dietrich

Wrong Answers Only - Tobias Madden

Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley

The Mistletoe Mystery - Nita Prose

A Night in the Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

A Matter of Execution - Nicolas Atwater and Olivia Atwater

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door - H.G. Parry

Cursed Cocktails - S.L. Rowland

Games Untold - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

So Thirsty - Rachel Harrison

Hunting November - Adriana Mather

Two Sides to Every Murder - Danielle Valentine

Demon in the Wood - Leigh Bardugo

Thistlefoot - GennaRose Nethercott

Ghost Squad - Claribel A. Ortega

Heartwood Hotel: A True Home - Kallie George

Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Death and Life of Benny Brooks - Ethan Long

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Catcher - Bruce Coville

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy

In a Jar - Deborah Marcero

Frog and Toad Are Friends - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad Together - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad All Year - Arnold Lobel

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt - Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

A Little Like Magic - Sarah Kurpiel

Sugar and Spice and Everything Mice - Annie Silvestro and Christee Curran-Bauer

Mr. Santa - Jarvis

I Shall Never Fall in Love - Harri Conner

Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid - Ngoni Ukazu

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches - Maggie Stiefvater

Shadow of the Batgirl - Sarah Kuhn

She-Hulk, Vol. 5: All In - Rainbow Rowell

Briony Hatch - Ginny & Penelope Skinner

March: Book One - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Cat People to Judge in Art and Life - Nicole Tersigni

Pen & Ink - Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton

March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women - Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley

Everybody Needs an Editor - Melissa Harris

We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me - Elliot Mintz

Never Play it Safe - Chase Jarvis

Women Living Deliciously - Florence Given

Things to Look Forward To - Sophie Blackall

Real American Girls Tell Their Own Stories - Thomas Hoobler and Dorothy Hoobler

The Wood in Winter - John Lewis-Stempel

50 Ways to Rewire Your Anxious Brain - Catherine M. Pittman and Maha Zayed Hoffman

Democracy or Else - Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor

What I Ate in One Year - Stanley Tucci

Greekish - Georgina Hayden

The Vegetable Eater - Cara Mangini

Bold = Highly Recommend

Italics = Worth It

Crossed Out = Nope

Thoughts: So, uh, I read a lot of books this month. I leaned into beating my total from last year since I was close and read a lot of short reads, graphic novels, and the children's books I was giving for gifts.

There were some good reads this month, including two new canine narrators that I adore: Fox 8 and Snuff from A Night in the Lonesome October (which really should be a big tumblr book as it has Jack the Ripper, Dracula, the Wolf Man, a witch, a clergyman, a druid, Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, a Rasputin-coded mad monk, and occultists along with their familiars scheming over the fate of the world).

Goodreads Goal: 476/400 

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads | 2022 Reads | 2023 Reads | 2024 Reads

[dweemeister]

2024 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Picture

Here now are my ten Best Picture winners for the last calendar year. A reminder that films that count towards the Movie Odyssey are movies that I saw in their entirety for the first time over that calendar year. Rewatches don't count.

In other words, these are my top ten "new-to-me" films from my 2024 viewings. I name all ten as "Best Pictures" in alphabetical order. I don't rank them. Any links in the titles take you to my write-ups... regrettably, there are only two:

Adam's Rib (1949; dir. George Cukor)

George Cukor's legal comedy comes with the tagline: "It's the hilarious answer to who wears the pants!" Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were long-unmarried romantic partners, and their professional partnership included nine films from 1942-1967. Here, he plays a prosecutor; she plays a defense attorney. While in court, Hepburn will claim that a woman’s (Judy Holliday) attempted murder of her adulterous husband is justified. Despite that crazy premise, Adam’s Rib sizzles: this is an ideal movie to watch if you want to know what the comedic and romantic chemistry between Tracy and Hepburn was like.

Awaara (1951, India; dir. Raj Kapoor)

In only his third feature film, Raj Kapoor directed himself, Nargis, and Rithviraj Kapoor (Raj’s father) in a gorgeously made Bollywood movie unafraid of asking questions of class, crime, capitalism/socialism, and personal redemption. The title, which can be translated to “tramp”, is only the first of several aspects in this film reflective of Raj Kapoor’s admiration of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films – humor, pathos, and social consciousness colliding, poetically, into a deeply human work. One of the few ‘50s Bollywood movies to achieve widespread popularity beyond India's borders: it's a touchstone in the former USSR nations, the Balkans, and China. You can watch it here.

The Big Heat (1953; dir. Fritz Lang)

One of two films noir here, this one by German director Fritz Lang (whose film M, from 1931, heavily influenced the creation of noir). Homicide Det. Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is investigating the death of a fellow cop when he receives word from “upstairs” to stop. He suspects a conspiracy, and turns in his badge (but not his .38) to get to the bottom of it. How far will he go? The Big Heat benefits from a cavalcade of excellent supporting actors – including Lee Marvin and especially Gloria Grahame. Don’t read reviews or other pieces before viewing this film: The Big Heat contains one of the most vicious moments in film history – unforgettable to anyone who sees it, not just to noiristas.

Detour (1945; dir. Edgar G. Ulmer)

Film noir #2 among this year’s Best Pictures. Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour was made by “Poverty Row” studio PRC (derisively nicknamed “Pretty Rotten Crap”) and does so much with so little. Unemployed piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is the unreliable narrator recounting how his life was destroyed after hitch-hiking cross-country to reunite with his girlfriend (Claudia Drake) and his encounter with maybe the meanest woman in film noir history, Vera (Ann Savage; what a surname). Detour’s tawdry, yet brilliant, filmmaking and unreliable narration subconsciously creates its own internal logic. This 68-minute film has the tone and rhythm of a nightmare. In the public domain. Best watched in the dead of night, half-asleep. Did you watch or dream this movie?

Dinner at Eight (1933; dir. George Cukor)

Ten years ago? George Cukor’s Dinner at Eight (Cukor again!) doesn’t make this list. I’ve taken a while to come around to comedies of manners. Based on the play of the same name with an adapted screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Dinner at Eight sees a socialite (Billie Burke, Glinda in The Wizard of Oz) organize a dinner party for all her friends. Also starring Marie Dressler, John Barrymore (whose fallen silent film actor character is alarmingly prescient), Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, and especially a fantastic Jean Harlow, this is a racy, elegantly-costumed witty comedy of high society figures deceiving themselves about their stations in life.

Flow (2024, Latvia/Belgium/France; dir. Gints Zilbalodis)

One of two animated features this year. In only his second feature, Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis delivers a dialogue-free animated feature that follows a black cat and their companions in a boat while they navigate the world, which has been destroyed by water. Made with free software Blender, this is a remarkable production that, like Detour, succeeds beyond its paucity of resources. Zilbalodis – who also was co-producer, co-writer, co-composer, cinematographer, editor, and art director – will tell you not to sweat plot details. This is a movie that is about how one learns to trust and work with others – something that Zilbalodis, usually a one-man show, learned himself while making Flow.

One Way Passage (1932; dir. Tay Garnett)

Along with Dinner at Eight, this is one of two pre-Code films among the Best Picture winners. Tay Garnett’s romantic drama stars two major figures from the pre-Code era: William Powell and Kay Francis. On a monthlong ferry from Hong Kong to San Francisco, Francis plays a terminally ill woman (not that you could tell she was terminally ill) who falls for a murderer (Powell) who has escaped authorities and is bound to be hung. Despite what might appear to be a morbid premise, One Way Passage has a romantic delicateness to it, mixing light comedy with unsentimental gestures for a most curious concoction. Fantastic ending.

Son of the White Mare (1981, Hungary; dir. Marcell Jankovics)

As some of you may know, one of my cinematic blind spots that I am most aware is a blind spot and would like most to address is Eastern bloc animation. Marcell Jankovics’ Son of the White Mare is a mythological movie that takes elements of the creation myths of the ancient nomads of the Eurasian steppe. Our main character is Treeshaker, the third human son of a mare, who has superhuman strength. He later meets his two similarly strong older brothers, Stonecrumbler and Ironrubber. Our trio journey to defeat three dragons spreading evil across the world. Jankovics’ film may be standard folklore, but its visual splendor – bright and bold colors, representational character animation – has never been imitated.

​A Special Day (1977, Italy; dir. Ettore Scola)

No other Italian actors could fit the idea of glamor as much as Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. And in Ettore Scola's Una giornata particolare, the two inhabit roles far away from their public and on-screen personas. On the day of Hitler's arrival in Rome on May 3, 1938 to citywide celebrations, a housewife (Loren) and a recently-sacked radio announcer (Mastroianni) have a chance encounter. With everyone else in the apartment complex away to watch the pomp and circumstance, the two discuss their lives, their disappointments, and the expectations hoisted upon them by others. Both actors tap into their wartime experiences to deliver performances among the best of their careers.

20 Days in Mariupol (2023, Ukraine; dir. Mstyslav Chernov)

“It's painful to watch. But it must be painful to watch.” So narrates director Mstyslav Chernov. Produced by the Associated Press and PBS for the latter’s Frontline, 20 Days in Mariupol is a war documentary that captures the twenty days that Chernov and his fellow AP photojournalists spent in Mariupol at the beginning of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine before their dangerous escape. With spare narration from Chernov (that I think I could’ve done without), we see moments unfold that became some of the most infamous images of the conflict in those early weeks – all involving the suffering and deaths of civilians (including children). Essential journalism, harrowing filmmaking. Available on Frontline’s YouTube.

[puzzle-paradigm]

2024 reading summary:

Prey by Michael Chriton

Revelator by Daryl Gregory

Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen

We Spread by Ian Reid (⭐)

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson

Kiss My Asterisk: a Feisty Guide to Punctuation by Jenny Baranick

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

White Night by Jim Butcher

Small Favor by Jim Butcher

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

Changes by Jim Butcher

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (⭐)

Lexicon by Max Berry

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

The Camp by Nancy Bush

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Martin

Things Have Gotten Worse Since we Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

The Perfect Place to Die by Bryce Moore

Skin Game by Jim Butcher

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that changed America by Erik Larson

Redshirts by John Scalzi

The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Link Neal, Rhett McLaughlin

Brief Cases: More Stories From The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories by Eric LaRocca

Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay

Creatures by John Langon, Paul Tremblay

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper

This is How You Lose The Time War by Max Goldstone, Amal El-Mohtar

Interior Darkness by Peter Straub

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (⭐)

The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (⭐)

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Zombie by J. R. Angella

The Fold by Peter Clines

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (⭐)

Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Jack of Spades by Joyce Carol Oates

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

The Horla by Guy de Maupassant

Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn (reread)

#noescape by Gretchen McNeil

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Straight by Chuck Tingle

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay (⭐)

[bookquest2024]

100 Books to Read Before I Die: Quest Order

The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Under The Net by Iris Murdoch

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A Passage to India by EM Forster

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

1984 by George Orwell

White Noise by Don DeLillo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Ulysses by James Joyce

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul

A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Little Women by Louisa M Alcott

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth

Watchmen by Alan Moore

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Money by Martin Amis

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

[famousblueraincoatmp3]

famousblueraincoatmp3 required reading list

kafkas diaries

anna karenina by leo tolstoy

their eyes were watching god by zora neale hurston

pale fire/despair/lolita by vladimir nabokov

the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoyevsky

one hundred years of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez

another country by james baldwin

the master and margarita by mikhail bulgakov

anna karenina by leo tolstoy

the garden of forking paths by jorge luis borges

the gilda stories by jewelle gomez

demons by fyodor dostoyevsky

the left hand of darkness by ursula k le guin

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

the passion according to g.h/agua viva by clarice lispector

letters to milena

deathless by catherine m valente

the bluest eye by toni morrison

the god of small things by arundhati roy

tess of the d'urbervilles by thomas hardy

paradise lost by john milton

bestiary by julió cortazar

don quixote by miguel de cervantes

[rabbitcruiser]

Vancouver Seawall (No. 2)

The Burrard Street Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Burrard Bridge) is a four-lane, Art Deco style, steel truss bridge constructed in 1930–1932 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The high, five part bridge on four piers spans False Creek, connecting downtown Vancouver with Kitsilano via connections to Burrard Street (formerly Cedar Street south of False Creek) on both ends. It is one of three bridges crossing False Creek. The other two bridges are the Granville Bridge, three blocks or 0.5 km (0.31 mi) to the southeast, and the Cambie Street Bridge, about 11 blocks or 2 km (1.2 mi) to the east. In addition to the vehicle deck, the Burrard Bridge has 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) wide sidewalks and a dedicated cycling lanes on both sides.

The architect of the Burrard Street Bridge was George Lister Thornton Sharp, the engineer John R. Grant. The bridge's two close approach spans are Warren trusses placed below deck level, while its central span is a Pratt truss placed above deck level to allow greater clearance height for ships passing underneath. The central truss is hidden when crossing the bridge in either direction by vertical extensions of the bridge's masonry piers into imposing concrete towers, connected by overhead galleries, which are embellished with architectural and sculptural details that create a torch-like entrance of pylons. Busts of Captain George Vancouver and Sir Harry Burrard-Neale in ship prows jut from the bridge's superstructure (a V under Vancouver's bust, a B under Burrard's).

Unifying the long approaches and the distinctive central span are heavy concrete railings, originally topped with decorative street lamps. These pierced handrails were designed as a kind of visual shutter (stroboscopic effect), so that at a speed of 50 km/h motorists would see through them with an uninterrupted view of the harbour. The effect works at speeds from about 40 to 64 km/h.

Source: Wikipedia

[arcenciel-par-une-larme]

Ok now my curiosity is peaked: what is the correct translation for O Come O Come Emmanuel? I have seen quite a few variations over the years, and generally sing the most common one I guess?

The one by T. A. Lacey is the one I've been used to since I first learned the hymn.

Digging a little deeper after I saw how popular the alternative version is, it seems to have originated from Hymns Ancient and Modern in the 19th century, and was itself a paraphrase from John Mason Neale. In retrospect, I wouldn't necessarily say the A&M version is "wrong", but merely that Lacey's poetry was better and somewhat more faithful to the Latin original. The divide between the two might be an England vs. America thing -- e.g., like with "Nearer my God to Thee", which is almost always sung to HORBURY this side of the Atlantic, but Americans tend to do BETHANY without a second thought.

However, in some versions of the text which are frequently reproduced, including in that image set, there are other oddities as well; e.g., one of the lines is rendered as "And cheer us on by drawing nigh", which struck me as very out-of-left-field, and as I found out, it is not to be found in Neale, Lacey, or A&M. To this day, I have no idea as to whence it came.

God bless.

[beewantstotalk]

Hugo Awarded Books:

1. T.H.White - The Sword in The Stone(1939)(3/02/23)

2. A.E. van Vogt - Slan(1941)

3. Robert A. Heinlein - Beyond This Horizon(1943)(21/06/23)

4. Fritz Leiber - Conjure Wife(1944)(30/06/23)

5. Leigh Brackett - Shadow Over Mars(1945)(19/05/23)

6. Isaac Asimov - The Mule(1946)

7. Robert A. Heinlein - Farmer in The Sky(1951)(30/01/23)

8. Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man(1953)

9. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451(1954)

10. Mark Clifton - They'd Rather Be Right(1955)

11. Robert A. Heinlein - Double Star(1956)

12. Fritz Leiber - The Big Time(1958)

13. James Blish - A Case of Conscience(1959)

14. Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers(1960)

15. Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz(1961)

16. Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land(1962)

17. Philip K. Dick - The Man in The High Castle(1963)

18. Clifford D. Simak - Here Gather the Stars(Way Station)(1964)

19. Fritz Leiber - The Wanderer(1965)

20. Frank Herbert - Dune(1966)

21. Robert A. Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress(1967)

22. Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light(1968)

23. John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar(1969)

24. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness(1970)

25. Larry Niven - Ringworld(1971)

26. Philip José Farmer - To Your Scattered Bodies Go(1972)

27. Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves(1973)

28. Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama(1974)

29. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed(1975)

30. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War(1976)

31. Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang(1977)

32. Frederik Pohl - Gateway(1978)

33. Vonda N. McIntyre - Dreamsnake(1979)

34. Arthur C. Clarke - The Fountains of Paradise(1980)

35. Joan D. Vinge - The Snow Queen(1981)

36. C. J. Cherryh - Downbelow Station(1982)

37. Isaac Asimov - Foundation's Edge(1983)

38. David Brin - Startide Rising(1984)

39. William Gibson - Neuromancer(1985)

40. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game(1986)

41. Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead(1987)

42. David Brin - The Uplift War(1988)

43. C. J. Cherryh - Cyteen(1989)

44. Dan Simmons - Hyperion(1990)

45. Lois McMaster Bujold - The Vor Game(1991)

46. Lois McMaster Bujold - Barrayar(1992)

47. Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep(1993)

48. Connie Willis - Doomsday Book(1993)

49. Kim Stanley Robinson - Green Mars(1994)

50. Lois McMaster Bujold - Mirror Dance(1995)

51. Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age(1996)

52. Kim Stanley Robinson - Blue Mars(1997)

53. Joe Haldeman - Forever Peace(1998)

54. Connie Willis - To Say Nothing to the Dog(1999)

55. Vernor Vinge - A Deepness in The Sky(2000)

56. J.K.Rowling - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(2001)

57. Neil Gaiman - American Gods(2002)

58. Robert J. Sawyer - Hominids(2003)

59. Lois McMaster Bujold - Paladin of Souls(2004)

60. Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell(2005)

61. Robert Charles Wilson - Spin(2006)

62. Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End(2007)

63. Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union(2008)

64. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book(2009)

65. Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl(2010)

66. China Miéville - The City & the City(2010)

67. Connie Willis - Blackout/All Clear(2011)

68. Jo Walton - Among Others(2012)

69. John Skalzi - Redshirts(2013)

70. Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice(2014)

71. Cixin Liu - The Three-Body Problem(2015)

72. N.K.Jemisin - The Fifth Season(2016)

73. N.K.Jemisin - The Obelisk Gate(2017)

74. N.K.Jemisin - The Stone Sky(2018)

75. Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars(2019)

76. Arkady Martine - A Memory Called Empire(2020)

77. Martha Wells - Network Effect(2021)

78. Arkady Martine - A Desolation Called Peace(2022)

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Blue Ocean

Bay Area three-piece Blue Ocean plays exuberantly discordant yet surprisingly mild-mannered noise pop, not unlike what a TV Personalities record might sound like if it were playing through a box fan that’s tumbling down the stairs. In his review of last year’s self-titled LP, Chris Liberato noted how suddenly the dynamics at play in the band’s songs can change, writing of “Human Now”: “You won’t be able to help but smile when a big bombastic synth chord comes lumbering across the song, from out of nowhere, with the enthusiasm of a sedated puppy — and then decides to stick around for a couple of encores.” Hot off the announcement of their Slumberland debut, Fertile State (out in October), band members Rick Altieri, David Stringi and Neal Donovan pop by to share a few words about some of the records they love.

Dave’s Picks:

Snapper — S/T

Found years ago, during a visit to Brooklyn, NY. I instantly gravitated to the vibrant and colorful slashes of paint, which abstractly splayed themselves across the front cover. The songs are very colorful as well, painted with electrifying rhythms and arpeggiating synth leads. “This would make a great gift for a couple of friends of mine.” Maybe someday Flying Nun will re-release it.

Dummy — EP2

I find myself listening again and again to this second installment from Dummy, sonic enthusiasts based on the West Coast. The opening track “Thursday Morning” introduces itself quite charmingly with its creative and concentrated vocal melodies. Followed blissfully by deep layers of noise and feedback within a clever collage process.

Rick’s Picks:

M. Sage — Paradise Crick

This album was a surprise find in the first half of 2023 for me, I was actually listening to the single “Crick Dynamo” before the album was released and remember my ears really perked up. I know M. Sage himself just did a Listed recently, what a lovely surprise — huge new fan of his work. I love the line walked between sonic lab experimentations and organic leafy strollings by a river; right up my alley.

Bill Evans — Coffee and Cigarettes

I always come back to Bill Evans when I’m in the mood for calming jazz that still demands your attention and challenges you in many ways. His playing on this record reminds me a lot of Debussy, another go-to when trying to unwind. Evans is one of my all-time favorite piano players.

Lifetones — For A Reason

Charles Bullen of This Heat went on to make this post-punk/dub hybrid classic with Julius Cornelius Samuel in 1983 — This Heat had just broken up the year before. The rhythmic syncopations and droning cyclical vocal delivery make every song on this record a mesmerizing journey. The lyrics are profound in their simplicity, dealing with human interaction and nature.

Neptune — Gong Lake

This record will always be special to me. Neptune was one of the first bands I remember seeing with Dave when I moved to Boston in 2008. They were playing in the basement of Gay Gardens, an old DIY spot in Allston. I was instantly blown away by the barrage of rhythmic noise and impressed by the homemade guitars and effects they had fabricated. They’ve been a huge influence on Dave and I for years now.

Emeralds — Does It Look Like I’m Here?

A Midwest synth classic. When I listened to the song “Candy Shoppe” again recently I was even more moved than ever before, a good sign that this 13-year-old album stands the test of time. This album fluctuates between gritty acidic synth-scapes and ambient movements in the vein of early Eno. I love Imaginary Softwoods too, John Elliot’s solo project post-Emeralds.

Neal’s Picks:

Ananda Kumar — Mangala Vadhyam Vol. 3

A friend with roots in Tamil Nadu told me about the nadaswaram, a double-reed instrument played at weddings and religious festivals in Southern India. I love how intense and cutting the sound is. This recording features two nadaswarams in semi-improvised conversation with each other. I'm reminded a bit of the groove and excitement of traditional New Orleans jazz. Also, the thavil drumming is insane, reminiscent of Aphex Twin breakbeats.

Jed Wentz — Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Flute

Telemann's fantasias for solo flute are so cool. Although they were published in the 1730s, there's something that feels very modern about having just the flute to focus on. The player is asked to jump around throughout the range of the instrument, sometimes outlining melodies and basslines simultaneously. It's all the more impressive on the keyless, wooden, baroque flute which has a mellower sound than modern metal ones. I imagine it as portable music that someone could play anywhere.

Sheer Mag — Compilation

My partner threw this on when we were cleaning out our last apartment. I'm not usually a big fan of riff-driven guitar rock, but this album just got me. The licks are smokin’, the guitar tones are perfection, and I love the mix— just gritty enough.

[claudz-vision]

JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN

Jerusalem the gold­en,

With milk and honey blest,

Beneath thy con­tem­pla­tion

Sink heart and voice op­pressed.

I know not, O I know not,

What joys await us there,

What radiancy of glo­ry,

What bliss beyond com­pare.

They stand, those halls of Zi­on,

All jubilant with song,

And bright with many an an­gel,

And all the mar­tyr throng;

The Prince is ev­er in them,

The daylight is se­rene.

The pastures of the bless­èd

Are decked in glo­ri­ous sheen.

There is the throne of Da­vid,

And there, from care re­leased,

The shout of them that tri­umph,

The song of them that feast;

And they, who with their lead­er,

Have conquered in the fight,

Forever and for­ev­er

Are clad in robes of white.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

The home of God’s elect!

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

That eager hearts ex­pect!

Jesus, in mercy bring us

To that dear land of rest,

Who art, with God the Fa­ther,

And Spir­it, ever blessed.

Brief life is here our por­tion,

Brief sorrow, short lived care;

The life that knows no end­ing,

The tearless life, is there.

O happy re­tri­bu­tion!

Short toil, eter­nal rest;

For mortals and for sin­ners,

A mansion with the blest.

That we should look, poor wan­der­ers,

To have our home on high!

That worms should seek for dwell­ings

Beyond the starry sky!

And now we fight the bat­tle,

But then shall wear the crown

Of full and ev­er­last­ing,

And passionless re­nown.

And how we watch and strug­gle,

And now we live in hope,

And Zion in her ang­uish

With Babylon must cope;

But He whom now we trust in

Shall then be seen and known,

And they that know and see Him

Shall have Him for their own.

For thee, O dear, dear coun­try,

Mine eyes their vi­gils keep;

For very love, be­hold­ing,

Thy happy name, they weep:

The mention of thy glo­ry

Is unction to the breast,

And medicine in sick­ness,

And love, and life, and rest.

O one, O only man­sion!

O paradise of joy!

Where tears are ever ban­ished,

And smiles have no al­loy;

The cross is all thy splen­dor,

The Cru­ci­fied thy praise,

His laud and be­ne­dic­tion

Thy ransomed people raise.

Jerusalem the glo­ri­ous!

Glory of the elect!

O dear and future vi­sion

That eager hearts ex­pect!

E’en now by faith I see thee,

E’en here thy walls dis­cern;

To thee my thoughts are kin­dled,

And strive, and pant, and yearn.

Jerusalem, the on­ly,

That look’st from Heav’n be­low,

In thee is all my glo­ry,

In me is all my woe!

And though my body may not,

My spirit seeks thee fain,

Till flesh and earth re­turn me

To earth and flesh again.

Jerusalem, ex­ult­ing

On that securest shore,

I hope thee, wish thee, sing thee,

And love thee ev­er­more!

I ask not for my mer­it:

I seek not to de­ny

My merit is de­struct­ion,

A child of wrath am I.

But yet with faith I ven­ture

And hope up­on the way,

For those pe­ren­ni­al guer­dons

I labor night and day.

The best and dear­est Fa­ther

Who made me, and who saved,

Bore with me in de­file­ment,

And from de­file­ment laved.

When in His strength I strug­gle,

For very joy I leap;

When in my sin I tot­ter,

I weep, or try to weep:

And grace, sweet grace ce­les­ti­al,

Shall all its love dis­play,

And Da­vid’s roy­al fount­ain

Purge ev­ery stain away.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

Shall I e’er see thy face?

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,

Shall I e’er win thy grace?

I have the hope with­in me

To comfort and to bless!

Shall I e’er reach thy glo­ry?

O tell me, tell me, Yes!

Strive, man, to win that glo­ry;

Toil, man, to gain that light;

Send hope be­fore to grasp it,

Till hope be lost in sight.

Exult, O dust and ash­es,

The Lord shall be thy part:

His only, His for­ev­er

Thou shalt be, and thou art.

Ber­nard of Mor­laix (Monk of Cluny), 1146 (Urbs Si­on aur­ea).

Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale

[dreamboybookclub]

dream boy book club is pleased to announce the imminent publication of . . . CuTieS oF CoNTeMPoRaRY LiTeRaTuRe: the Collected Dream Boy Book Club Vol. 1 ⭐️ featuring A.J. Brown, Alexandra Naughton, Annie Lou Martin, April Eileen Henry, ashla c. r., Ashley D. Escobar, Ayla McCarthy Combes, Beaux Neal, Benin Gardner, Carmen Vega, Caroline Ouellette, Clarke e. Andros, Danielle Chelosky, Ember Knight, Erin Satterthwaite, Francesca Kritikos, Isabelle Joy Stephen, Jerusha Crone, Joe Nasta, John Ling, jomé rain, Juliette Jeffers, Kaiulani Ellington Lee, Kitty Saint-Remy, Lee Phillips, Lemmy Ya’akova, Madeline Zuzevich, Maria Kirsch, Marianne Agnes, Maurane, Maya Osep, Meat Stevens, medb, Nestan Nikouradze, s m van de kamp, Sarah Elda, Sarah Velk, Siena Foster-Soltis, Sofia Hoefig, Sophia Georghiou, Stephanie Yue Duhem, and Swan Scissors, with an introduction by Jonathan Blake Fostar. ✨ available everywhere September 6th ✨ dreamboybook.club/store/cuties 😇