Sadly, I have been too busy this past week to read much for the link
roundup and, sadly, that will continue today. So, instead of a set of
links, I figured I’d take this brief blogging time to share some
thoughts on books I’ve read so far this year that I’ve enjoyed.
Due to the aforementioned time restriction, don’t think of these as full
reviews or full considerations. Several of these books are on my list to
eventually write full posts or even articles about. I’ll just share one
or two quick thoughts from each. Their inclusion on this list, itself,
signals my strong recommendation.
Confucius, The Analects. I’ve read Confucius several times
before, but given that I am teaching his ideas in my global
rhetorics-based writing courses, I decided to do a reread of The
Analects toward the beginning of the year. I’m about five years
back into a formal Zen practice, and the cross-contamination between
Confucian thought and Zen Buddhism was evident in this read. Despite
certain overly traditionalist and patriarchal elements of Confucian
thought, which need to be put aside, I really do appreciate the
model of the “good” that The Analects offers.
Brian Hodge, I’ll Bring You the Birds from Out of the Sky. This was just an absolutely stunning cosmic horror novella. The
dread of certain passages has stuck with me for months, and given
that my wife is West Virginian the location was especially
intriguing.
Han Kang, The Vegetarian. I don’t even know what to say about
this novel. Most novel readers are aware of it by now but, if you
aren’t, it’s an incredibly haunting text told in three parts about
the dissolution of a Korean family when a woman bucks social norms
by becoming a vegetarian. The story itself, oddly, has very little
to do with vegetarianism and more to do with gender roles,
patriarchy, and social punishment. But those are incomplete
thoughts; I’m still processing this one.
Andrew Culp, Dark Deleuze. Culp argues that academics have
shockingly (note my sarcasm) deradicalized Deleuze’s thought.
Deleuze is my favorite philosopher, or at least the one most
influential to my general worldview, and I’ve had Culp’s book on my
reading list for quite a while. It’s an odd read for me because I
agree wholeheartedly with Culp’s larger points and don’t always
appreciate his smaller ones in the construction of the argument.
The book would be of negative interest to anyone not invested in
Deleuze, but it’s highly worth a read for anyone who is.
Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness: The End of a Diary. Sarah Manguso
is my favorite living writer. Her book Siste Viator was probably
the most influential text in getting me to care about language in my
freshman year of college, and everything I’ve read by her has left a
mark. This book focuses on the author’s archival obsession and her
process of releasing it. I don’t want to say too much more yet, as
I’m already working my thoughts into a larger piece, but I can say
with certainty that this is my favorite book I’ve read so far, this
year.
So, there are some thoughts. Apologies for not having more, but teaching
calls.