Ada or Hell's 75 in 2024
Diskutera75 Books Challenge for 2024
Bara medlemmar i LibraryThing kan skriva.
1adaorhell
I got a job at a library so this seems way more doable.
1. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
I like Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music better, but The Rest is Noise made me smile and laugh more. I would have loved to hang out with some of these people.
2. Call Me By Your Name
Shocking to say but the movie is better, even though it removed some of the more dangerous loathing that keeps the book from falling from sweetness to saccharine.
1. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
I like Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music better, but The Rest is Noise made me smile and laugh more. I would have loved to hang out with some of these people.
2. Call Me By Your Name
Shocking to say but the movie is better, even though it removed some of the more dangerous loathing that keeps the book from falling from sweetness to saccharine.
3FAMeulstee
Happy reading in 2024!
4adaorhell
3. Ecstasy and Terror - Daniel Mendelsohn
Really middle of the road but appreciated his pretty solid defense of criticism at the end.
4. Bones and All
A girl who hates herself must have a queer boyfriend who hates himself just as much. The correlation between her cannibalism and her bodily rejection was so depressing. She only eats boys who want to be intimate with her, be that sexually or platonically. I haven't seen the movie yet but her consumption of Lee was so sad and not something that speaks to her self acceptance, at least, not in a positive way. Consuming Lee was the last thing she did as a human, as a person who could love and be loved. Really dark -- when she spends the whole book clinging to her humanity and then is fine with no longer caring, no longer looking for love, no longer wanting to be a human at all. Is that self acceptance? In a way, sure. She can work at a library, loving books, memorizing the call numbers of cannibals and demons, and eating anyone who shows a modicum of community with her. No man is an island, not even cannibals. it felt like such a weird strange ending, for this girl who spends the whole book ruminating on forgiveness, and nature, and trying to understand family to just go Jennifer's Body at the end.
Really middle of the road but appreciated his pretty solid defense of criticism at the end.
4. Bones and All
A girl who hates herself must have a queer boyfriend who hates himself just as much. The correlation between her cannibalism and her bodily rejection was so depressing. She only eats boys who want to be intimate with her, be that sexually or platonically. I haven't seen the movie yet but her consumption of Lee was so sad and not something that speaks to her self acceptance, at least, not in a positive way. Consuming Lee was the last thing she did as a human, as a person who could love and be loved. Really dark -- when she spends the whole book clinging to her humanity and then is fine with no longer caring, no longer looking for love, no longer wanting to be a human at all. Is that self acceptance? In a way, sure. She can work at a library, loving books, memorizing the call numbers of cannibals and demons, and eating anyone who shows a modicum of community with her. No man is an island, not even cannibals. it felt like such a weird strange ending, for this girl who spends the whole book ruminating on forgiveness, and nature, and trying to understand family to just go Jennifer's Body at the end.
5adaorhell
5. Madame De Sade - Yukio Mishima
He never writes this much about women! "What would make Sade's wife leave him the moment he is released from prison?" Mishima's answer is "because he became ugly and no longer had the pure body that matched his purity of soul." Is that really the answer? We don't know, but it's as good as any.
He never writes this much about women! "What would make Sade's wife leave him the moment he is released from prison?" Mishima's answer is "because he became ugly and no longer had the pure body that matched his purity of soul." Is that really the answer? We don't know, but it's as good as any.
6adaorhell
6. My Cinema
FANTASTIC! A brutal intellect, a charming conversationalist, a delightful and deranged drunk. Wonderful, and helped me think about "cinema" in new ways.
FANTASTIC! A brutal intellect, a charming conversationalist, a delightful and deranged drunk. Wonderful, and helped me think about "cinema" in new ways.
7adaorhell
7. What to Listen for in Music
a lovely, lovely, lovely, charming charming little book. would have made an amazing lecture I'm sure.
a lovely, lovely, lovely, charming charming little book. would have made an amazing lecture I'm sure.
8shadabejaz
>6 adaorhell: Hi! This is the first time I've seen someone add a book related to cinema/films on LT. I've never read anything on film theory or any story revolving around films/cinema, and I'm really looking to make a list of books on this topic. Is My Cinema a suitable intro to this genre of books?
9adaorhell
>8 shadabejaz: I'm not sure, it is definitely an interesting portrait of a filmmaker, with interviews and stuff about her films. But I guess it depends on what you want to study in film. This is my tag for film: https://www.librarything.com/catalog/adaorhell?tag=film&collection=-1
I don't know if that helps, but I feel like the best thing to do is find out what film you are interested in and go from there.
I don't know if that helps, but I feel like the best thing to do is find out what film you are interested in and go from there.
10adaorhell
8. Penguin Classic Supreme Court cases
It's really alarming to me how hard it is to get the raw material. These are edited opinions. So many of them suck.
9. Housekeeping
Depressing and horrific in a very specific way for me, as a person who used to be homeless, transient. It's hard to articulate being homeless and it's hard to articulate the draw to it, even now. Stories about women who aren't mothers but do have children are the most brutal out there.
10. May it Please the Court
Again, horrific how hard it is to get the raw material. The National Archives just digitized the oral arguments from 1955 to today, last summer. Again, these are edited arguments. What's left out is even more fucked then what was left in.
It's really alarming to me how hard it is to get the raw material. These are edited opinions. So many of them suck.
9. Housekeeping
Depressing and horrific in a very specific way for me, as a person who used to be homeless, transient. It's hard to articulate being homeless and it's hard to articulate the draw to it, even now. Stories about women who aren't mothers but do have children are the most brutal out there.
10. May it Please the Court
Again, horrific how hard it is to get the raw material. The National Archives just digitized the oral arguments from 1955 to today, last summer. Again, these are edited arguments. What's left out is even more fucked then what was left in.
11shadabejaz
>9 adaorhell: Makes sense to search for books based on the films I like, but it's such a broad spectrum. I'm really drawn towards the coming-of-age genre (I loved the Holdovers recently, just like every other Alexander Payne film), and stories that execute the "out of the frying pan, into the fire" trope (like After Hours, and more recently, American Fiction), so I'll look for relevant books.
I took a peek at your list, and found some interesting selections. I've added books about Soviet Cinema, Film and Female Consciousness, and Archive to my TBR. Thanks for sharing this list with me!
I took a peek at your list, and found some interesting selections. I've added books about Soviet Cinema, Film and Female Consciousness, and Archive to my TBR. Thanks for sharing this list with me!
12adaorhell
11. The Hour of the Star
I had read this before but I picked up a series of lectures by Helene Cixous about Lispector so revisited this, and also all my Lispectors are missing, I keep lending them out and not getting them back :(
I had read this before but I picked up a series of lectures by Helene Cixous about Lispector so revisited this, and also all my Lispectors are missing, I keep lending them out and not getting them back :(
13adaorhell
12. Poetics of Music
What an absolute delight! Charming, earnest, sincere. One of the best all around books I've ever read about music.
What an absolute delight! Charming, earnest, sincere. One of the best all around books I've ever read about music.
14PocheFamily
>10 adaorhell: Your #9 - I'm so sorry this read was not a pleasure. I listened to it as audiobook driving back and forth to work many moons ago - and would arrive not remembering any part of the drive as this book's atmosphere so totally consumed my mind. It's simply haunting. Scenes in this book are absolutely unforgettable. This book, more than Gilead, made me a Robinson fan.
15adaorhell
>14 PocheFamily: oh it was definitely a pleasure, the writing was incredible. but writing about a child who chooses to be homeless v the experience of being homeless child definitely not by choice is always...jarring. its fiction of course and completely skips over the reality of the fear of rape, but was a great book.
13. Reading with Clarice
I've read almost all of Clarice Lispector's work but reading this left me feeling like not only had I never read any Clarice Lispector, but I had never read a book ever in my life.
14. Dune
Genocidal Imperator Mommy Jessica and her Baby Jihadi on the Fury Road!
13. Reading with Clarice
I've read almost all of Clarice Lispector's work but reading this left me feeling like not only had I never read any Clarice Lispector, but I had never read a book ever in my life.
14. Dune
Genocidal Imperator Mommy Jessica and her Baby Jihadi on the Fury Road!
16PocheFamily
>15 adaorhell: I understand far better now - and feel in sympatico with your description/explanation. I can't bear to read about anything being "done" to children. It's not even a close call sometimes when fiction comes up against real life. Thanks for making the comment, sincerely, and for coming back to me to clarify - a kindness to this stranger!
17adaorhell
15. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
I have never felt more fucking insane. & I'm a schizophrenic.
16. Sophocles I
This was just to accompany Anti-Oedipus to make sure I knew what Oedipus they were referring to the whole time.
17. Wagner & Nietzsche
Literally the worst translation of the German language I've read in my life. But did include the sentence "Wagner's pathological love of satin" which I hold with me.
18. In The Dust of This Planet
I think this was the first time I felt joy reading philosophy because I had read all the source citations already and even had familiarity with the Black Metal and seen almost all of the movies and television shows discussed. A real pleasure. I liked his ideas too.
I have never felt more fucking insane. & I'm a schizophrenic.
16. Sophocles I
This was just to accompany Anti-Oedipus to make sure I knew what Oedipus they were referring to the whole time.
17. Wagner & Nietzsche
Literally the worst translation of the German language I've read in my life. But did include the sentence "Wagner's pathological love of satin" which I hold with me.
18. In The Dust of This Planet
I think this was the first time I felt joy reading philosophy because I had read all the source citations already and even had familiarity with the Black Metal and seen almost all of the movies and television shows discussed. A real pleasure. I liked his ideas too.
18adaorhell
>16 PocheFamily: & I did like it as a biblical story sort of (Ruth and Naomi). I actually read it because I make sure and try and read any books characters in films I really like read over the course of the film and Maren Yearly from Bones & All (a pretty meh book but probably my favourite Luca Guadagino film) reads A LOT, and she's shown with Housekeeping several times. Which makes a lot of sense, Maren is a girl without a mother/looking for a mother figure, transient, living out of society...
Hard to see, but here she is reading it in the Badlands.
https://cinematic-literature.tumblr.com/post/703935874822504448/bones-and-all-20...
Hard to see, but here she is reading it in the Badlands.
https://cinematic-literature.tumblr.com/post/703935874822504448/bones-and-all-20...
19PocheFamily
>18 adaorhell: Interesting tie-in ... I'll have to look for the film. Thx!
20adaorhell
19. Acts of Worship by Yukio Mishima
I forgot this one from January! I don't remember much about it which means I didn't really like it, but I think I read it because I'm a compulsive Mishima collector.
I forgot this one from January! I don't remember much about it which means I didn't really like it, but I think I read it because I'm a compulsive Mishima collector.
21adaorhell
20. Schoenberg: Why He Matters
One of the reasons I listen to audiobooks about musicians is because sometimes they play some of the composers music. This did not happen, which was a bit disappointing, since Schoenberg is one of the most notoriously difficult composers to play and understand. Still a thorough and interesting biography, including his beef with Stravinsky and the charming side note of letting Jackie Robinson out of his class early so he could go break the color barrier in baseball, something that Schoenberg was extremely proud of.
One of the reasons I listen to audiobooks about musicians is because sometimes they play some of the composers music. This did not happen, which was a bit disappointing, since Schoenberg is one of the most notoriously difficult composers to play and understand. Still a thorough and interesting biography, including his beef with Stravinsky and the charming side note of letting Jackie Robinson out of his class early so he could go break the color barrier in baseball, something that Schoenberg was extremely proud of.
22adaorhell
21. The Selfishness of Others by Kristin Dombek
a difficult subject she wrote with humor and consideration. she's also one of my best friends and I'm like five years late to read it.
a difficult subject she wrote with humor and consideration. she's also one of my best friends and I'm like five years late to read it.
23adaorhell
22. Garbo by Robert Gottlieb
Greta Garbo is not a good person, and I honestly am not sure her life was rich enough to even make a compelling biography. Not just because she was so private at a time when you could be private, but because she seems like a weak, helpless person who needs other people to tell her how to dress, what to eat, what to do, etc. I don't know if she thinks anything about anything. She's not really interested in anything but taking walks.
Greta Garbo is not a good person, and I honestly am not sure her life was rich enough to even make a compelling biography. Not just because she was so private at a time when you could be private, but because she seems like a weak, helpless person who needs other people to tell her how to dress, what to eat, what to do, etc. I don't know if she thinks anything about anything. She's not really interested in anything but taking walks.
24adaorhell
23. Dyscalculia: A Love Story of Epic Miscalculation
YEESH. Brutal. Unforgiving. I think it's pretty intense to even try to write about madness, especially when you are in the thick of things, and come out with something so seductive and alluring. I don't read a lot of poetry, and this is also my friend so I'm biased, but a really gorgeous work.
YEESH. Brutal. Unforgiving. I think it's pretty intense to even try to write about madness, especially when you are in the thick of things, and come out with something so seductive and alluring. I don't read a lot of poetry, and this is also my friend so I'm biased, but a really gorgeous work.
25adaorhell
24. American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15
Awful, we suck, I hope everyone who spends their creativity building weapons goes to hell. Its so overwhelming and terrible to hear the narrator say "it was the worst shooting in American history, until x, until y", literally every other paragraph. This country chose guns over children, and you cannot tell me any of this country's right wing/pro lifers care about anything but death, when confronted with such vileness.
Awful, we suck, I hope everyone who spends their creativity building weapons goes to hell. Its so overwhelming and terrible to hear the narrator say "it was the worst shooting in American history, until x, until y", literally every other paragraph. This country chose guns over children, and you cannot tell me any of this country's right wing/pro lifers care about anything but death, when confronted with such vileness.
26adaorhell
25. You Only Live Twice: Sex Death and Transition
I get what the authors are trying to do. But the execution didn't...land for me. They talked a lot about doing things, to change their opportunities now that they were given "a second life" but they mostly fail to live up to it. They mostly fail to do a lot of things they leave the reader with, forgive their parents, forgive their exes, etc. It doesn't feel like they are really enjoying all this extra time they don't feel they've earned, but I don't know. The most charming thing about this was the 'dress rehearsals' for death.
I get what the authors are trying to do. But the execution didn't...land for me. They talked a lot about doing things, to change their opportunities now that they were given "a second life" but they mostly fail to live up to it. They mostly fail to do a lot of things they leave the reader with, forgive their parents, forgive their exes, etc. It doesn't feel like they are really enjoying all this extra time they don't feel they've earned, but I don't know. The most charming thing about this was the 'dress rehearsals' for death.
