How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Amitav Ghosh

 

I suppose it started with Christopher Nolan. I watched a video where he went into the Criterion Closet to choose some of his favorite movies. One of them he referred to as The Apu Trilogy. I am a big fan of trilogies and a bigger fan of Christopher Nolan, so I immediately checked the local library listings to see if they had the these movies. They did. I got them, then, as usual, left them to ferment on the table as I did Other Things.

At about the same time I was looking at a New York Times review and saw an ad for a novel called Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh. I don't remember what it was that attracted me to the novel — it might have just been the picture of an eyeball on the cover (see above). At any rate, I checked the library and they had it so I took it out and began to read. It didn't take long for it to pull me in and I finished reading it in just a few days. As soon as I finished it I wanted more from Mister Ghosh.

It was an astonishing novel which touched on reincarnation, environmental disaster, remote viewing, drones, and class warfare...all in one neat package. It also introduced me to Indian and Bangladeshi culture, about which I'd known nothing previously.

At the same time I watched the first two films of The Apu Trilogy, which was also centered around Indian culture. It made for a nice bit of minor immersion.

And just a few minutes ago I picked up this--

 --which is the first book of The Ibis Tril🌝gy,  and I'm going to start on it as soon as I shut up here. 

Like NOW.

A few words from Amitav Ghosh's Ghost-Eye which should scare the shit out of you.

 

And by the way, this is a Great, Must-Read novel...no matter what that stupid motherfucker at The Guardian says.

Addendum: "...human faith in the sacred is founded...[on the] sense of awe and wonder...." (288) (Quite rearranged for clarity.)

DDR: Twenty-Two Stories by J.D. Salinger

Day 1 (DDRD 3,234) September 10, 2026

Read to page 43.

I was tempted to continue reading Hungarian Stuff, but this arrived in the mail and that was that.

J.D. Salinger published one novel and 35 short stories. 13 of those short stories were collected in book form. The other 22 were Out There for the intrepid reader, but were not easy to find. When I was 18 and attending Catonsville Community College in Baltimore, I found a couple of those stories on microfilm, and spent quite a few hours copying them by hand.  I still have them around here somewhere. Later on in life, I started tracking down the original publications and xeroxing copies of the stories. I'm pretty sure that I ended up finding all of them, but I have no idea where those are now. I'm not really a thrower-outer, so I probably still possess them, but it would take Heinrich Schliemann and his friends to unearth them.

Enter 

296 pages of teeny tiny print. I've read some of these previously, but I'm really anxious to one fell swoop this. 

1. "The Young Folks": A girl talks to a guy at a party. Mostly dialogue.  👎 

2. "Go See Eddie": an abusive brother orders his sister to go see Eddie. Mostly dialogue.  👎

3. "The Hang of It": a young soldier fucks up. Mostly dialogue. 👎

4. "The Heart of aBroken Story": a young guy fantasizes about a pretty girl he sees on the bus. Mostly narration and letters. 👎

5. "The Long Debut of Lous Taggett": a girl marries an abusive husband. They divorce. She marries again--a nice man. They have a baby. The baby smothers in its crib. Mostly narration. 👎

So...none of these first 5 stories were very good at all, and I can understand why Salinger didn't want them to be collected. 

P.S. Read one more: 

6. "Personal Notes of an Infantryman": very short...which is a blessing. Terrible story with a confusing ending.  👎 👎

Day 2 (DDRD 3,235) September 11, 2026

Read to page 84.

You know, I really want to read all of these stories, and my love for J. D. Salinger's writers is undiminished, but (1) six bad stories in a row and (2) I've been reading Ghost-Eye on the side, and it is excellent and I want to spend more time reading it.

7. "The Varioni Brothers": at last...a decent story. Not great, mind you, but at least decent. A songwriting brother duo finds success at the expense of the lyricist's novel writing. 👌

8. "Both Parties Concerned": not as good as "The Varioni Brothers," but almost. A small story about a young couple who have a fight. The narrator had Holden Caulfield's voice...a bit too much of it, actually.  👌-ish.

9. "Soft-Boiled Sergeant": a really bad title for a pretty good story about a flint-faced but kind-hearted soldier. And another Holden-kind of narrator.  👌

10. " The Last Day of the Last Furlough ": a very touching story about two young men who will be going off to war in the morning. One of the two, one is Vincent Caulfield, whose younger brother, Holden, is missing in action. Which doesn't fit with the Holden we know from The Catcher in the Rye, but some other stuff, like getting kicked out of school, does. So that was a thrill. 👍

Day 3 (DDRD 3,236) September 12, 2026

Read to page 118.

11. "Once a Week Won't Kill You": I was sure this was an early version of " A Perfect Day For Bananafish" at first, but no. Seemed very See More Glass, though. Not much of a story here: a guy days good-bye to his aunt before he leaves for the war. So...👌

12. "A Boy in France": Babe, from " The Last Day of the Last Furlough," appears again. He's in the war now. This is a very slight bit of story: Babe gets in a fixhole, reads a letter, and falls asleep. That's it.   👎

13. "Elaine": a story about a beautiful girl who seems to be mentally retarded. She goes to the beach with a sketchy guy she later marries. There's a row at the reception between mother and mother-in-law. The end.  👎

14. " This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise ": Another Vincent Caulfield story, and mentions of Holden (who's still misding in action) and Phoebe. Another story devoid of plot: 34 soldiers ride in a truck to a dance. It's raining. We don't see them arrive.  👎

Day 4 (DDRD 3,237) September 13, 2026

Read to page 157.

15. "The Stranger": a very slight story. Babe is back...to tell Vincent Caulfield's ex about Vincent's death. That's it.  👎

16. "I'm Crazy ": Another Holden Caulfield story, this time with Holden as first person narrator. It's pretty much the same as an early section in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden leaves school, visits a teacher, then goes home. Talks to Phoebe and another, younger sister, talks to his parents, goes to bed. 👌

17. "Slight Rebellion Off Madison": Another Holden Caulfield story, this time with a third person narrator. It's pretty much the same as an early section in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden visits Sally, they go ice-skating, then she goes home. He gets drunk and calls her. 👌

18. "A Young Girl in 1941 With No Waist At All": on a ship. Girl smooches with a guy even though she's engaged. The end.

 👎

Day 5 (DDRD 3,238) September 14, 2026

Read to page 187...which is halway through

19. "The Inverted Forest "

Thus far it's pretty good. It's a story about a rich young woman who falls in love with a poet. Her friend tells her not to marry the poet, saying he doesn't love her, but she marries him anyway. So disaster is sure to follow.

I'm tempted to read more, but I just picked up this

from the library, and I must begin reading ot immediately. 

Day 6 (DDRD 3,239) September 15, 2026

Read to page

DDR: The Adventures of John Háry Hungarian Hussar by István Tamás

 

I've known about this István Tamás book for quite awhile, but the only copy I could find was listed on eBay for $50. 

And despite my great love for István Tamás, that was just too much for me. 

But this year my big sister (who is literally a rocket scientist) sent me a big Big check for my birthday, and I decided to buy stuff that was beyond my usual limit.

It arrived yesterday, just as I finished István's Sergeant Nikola. That has to be a sign, right?

A mere 114 pages...and lots of illustrations...so i dont think will take long.

Let's see.

Day 1 (DDRD 3,233) September 9, 2026

Read to page 114. Yep.

87 year old book given as a Christmas present 79 years ago. Yowza.

And our survey says...it wasn't available very good book, I'm sorry to say. And not because it was a children's book. Because it wasn't a good children's book. (Though the illustrations were amusing.)

The last page broke my little heart, though:

There's another one Out There. 

And I can't find it.

😔 

Stoned Thought #19

 

I finally understand why people watch college football: sometimes the NFL isn't there when you need it.