Foods I Will Never Eat

Anything that comes from the sea except fish and crabs.

Any fish that isn't in the shape of a rectangle and breaded.

Any crab that isn't in the form of a hamburger.

Any land meat that isn't from a cow, pig, chicken, or turkey. (And these must bear no resemblance to a living cow, pig, chicken, or turkey.)

Anything that is spicy hot.

Any insect.

Cock flavored soup.

Again, László Krasznahorkai

So here I am, trying to finish up my Complete Dostoyevsky Novels Project AND just a little way into my 6 Book Karl Ove Knausgård My Struggle Project, and look what arrives at the library:

So obviously something will have to give. It's due 11/23, and there's a good chance that I won't be able to renew it (it's brand new, after all)...and unlike previous Krasznahorkai books, which were slim enough to be short stories, this one is 496 pages of tiny print. But László Krasznahorkai is my favorite living writer (and top 5 all time), so it's mos def a priority...unlike the many books I check out, renew renew renew, then return on the final due date unopened. 

Hmmm. Need a plan. Or a clone.

⚾&🎵

Public Domain

Public Domain

Stoned thought of the day: when the ball is hit in baseball, every player has to know where to go. It's like football in that there are distinct plays. But at the same time, there has to be an improvisational part to the baseball play--like Jazz.

Also, the shape of the baseball game is not determined by time, as all other sports are; baseball is contingent upon the performance of players. This openness also reminds me of Jazz.

And because there is nothing new    🌞

                                                                 ⬆, when I Googled Baseball and Jazz, looking for a public domain picture I could put to use, I found a little essay on the similarities between baseball and jazz. It's https://johnedwardhasse.com/speaker/jazz-and-baseball/ if you'd like to have a little look.

The Band of the Crow

 I love Arvid Nelson. Not only is he a wonderful writer (I'm particularly fond of Rex Mundi, which I think is one of the greatest comic books ever*), but he's also a really nice guy. And he has just recently started a new comic book project, The Band of the Crow, on Kickstarter. Go HERE and check out the video that's posted. Is that some beautiful artwork or what? 

And I can guarandamn-t you that the story will be enthralling, having read literally (and I mean that literally) hundreds of pages of Arvid's writing. (In addition to Rex Mundi, he's written, among other things, Kull, Thulsa Doom, Red Sonja, & Warlord of Mars.) 

You can get a digital copy of this comic book for a mere $2, or you can shoot the moon and get a real comic book for $8 ($5 of that's for shipping). I know that $8 is a lot for a comic book, but (1) you can select the Kickstarter Only cover 

and have a nice little collector's item that you won't find elsewhere, (2) did I mention that Arvid is a nice guy? and (3) this is not a corporate produced and financed book. Wouldn't you like to support the little guy? Of course you would.

Don't wait too long, as this project (which is already well over fully funded) ends Sunday, November 24 2024 8:10 PM EST.

* You can get the entire Rex Mundi series in six volumes or in two omnibus volumes--almost 1,200 pages total.

BREAKING NEWS: I just found out that there's aNOTHer The Band of the Crow edition on something called Indiegogo (HERE). 

DDR2: My Struggle Book Two: A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgård

 

573 pages. 

Day 1 (DDRD 2,556) October 30, 2024 

Read to page 50.

Big leap from Book One, which was a little disorienting ar first, but by the time I hit page 50 I was cruising along, and only Game 4 of the World Series could keep me from reading more.

Day 2 (DDRD 2,557) 🎃 October 31, 2024 🎃 

Read to page 75. Busy day.

"...the life I led was not my own. I tried to make it mine, this was my struggle, because, of course, I wanted it, but I failed, the longing for something else undermined all my efforts." (69)

"...[P]erhaps it was the prefabricated nature of the days in this world I was reacting to, the rails of routine we followed, which made everything so predictable that we had to invest in entertainment to feel any hint of intensity." (Still 69) 

Now that (⬆️) is some IFS*. 

And on page 74:

Of COURSE he's reading Demons at the same time (so to speak) that I am. I'm not even surprised. 

* Intense Fucking Shit

Day 3 (DDRD 2,558)  November 1, 2024 

Read to page 110. Another busy day. About half of this reading g was done in church (before the service

On the difficulty of reading Distoyevsky: "I was uncomfortable in Dostoyevsky's world." (96)

Just a few lines earlier, KOK said, "The threshold for reading [Dostoyevsky] became higher the less I read...." I'm not sure what he means by that, but it's clear that (1) he loves Dostoyevsky and (2) he finds Dostoyevsky difficult to read.

Also clear: KOK has antiquated views of men and women which border on misogyny and (2) he wants to fuck every pretty woman he sees, even though he has a wife and a young child at home.

Day 4 (DDRD 2,559)  November 2, 2024 

Read to page 150.

Referring to the boxing ring, KOK says, "There the values that the welfare state had otherwise subverted, such as masculinity, honor, violence and pain, were upheld...." (126)

What the fucking fuckety fuck????

Also...KOK mentions that a fellow writer / friend, Geir Angell Øygarden, had written a book entitled The Aesthetics of a Broken Nose. I thought that sounded interesting, so I went to have a look for books by thus Grid fellow. Amazon? Nope. Better World Books? Nope. Thrift Books? Nope. LFPL? Nope. Ebay? Nope. AbeBooks? 2! Neither in English. Neither 👃. Internet Archive? Nope. 

Guess I won't be reading that book.

Another reason to learn Norwegian.

Day 5 (DDRD 2,560)  November 3, 2024 

Read to page 200.

Mention is made of the great(-est?) Norwegian writer, Tor Ulven. I searched high and low: one slim book of poetry on Amazon. Nothing else.

I'm 67 years old. It's too late to become a translator of Norwegian literature. 

Isn't it?

I sure hope that "fucking a 13 year old girl" wasn't a real thing, as KOK says. That would definitely be the end of our reading relationship. 

Day 6 (DDRD 2,561)  November 4, 2024 

Read to page 244.

Just took a peak to see how long A Raw Youth is, and happened upon this statement:

"One must be too disgustingly in love with self to be able without shame to write about oneself." Dostoyevsky, A Raw Youth. 

Hmmm.....that's a bit in the nose, isn't it?

My book's been making some weird creaking noises as I read. Check out this bookbinding disaster waiting to happen:

What kind of idiot binds a book this way? The idiots at archipelago Books, that's who.

Day 7 (DDRD 2,562)  November 5, 2024 

Read to page 249. Yeah, only 5 pages. Busy day + election returns 😔. 

Day 8 (DDRD 2,563)  November 6, 2024 

Read to page 282.

Hmmm. Is it just me, or is KOK an asshole? When his pregnant girlfriend starts bleeding, he tells her everything is fine and doesn't take her to see a doctor...because they're on vacation, visiting his mother. He throws a glass across the room during an argument. Etcetera. And you might think it's brave of him to write about himself in this way...but I don't get the feeling that he knows he is an asshole, which makes him an even bigger asshole. We've also never come back to the did you have sex with a 13 year old girl thing. I'm starting to wonder if it's time to get off this train.

Day 9 (DDRD 2,564)  November 7, 2024 

Read to page