Ursula Continues to Explore in 2022

Hello there, I'll be starting another calendar year in Istanbul, which you may know is a city of cats.

I've lived here for just short of a year and a half so far. I'm an American, Californian by birth, but I keep finding myself living in various other places. My husband is a mathematician, I'm theoretically an artist ... but the last 5 months my full-time job has been learning Turkish. In that spirit:

Herkese hoş geldiniz! (Welcome everyone!)

As for reading life, well, it's slowed down immensely as I've been attending classes but I'm trying to hang in there. We'll see what happens, the years tend to surprise me in some way every single time!

Currently Reading:


Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage


Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au


The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

Books read in 2022

OCAK / January

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wild Palms by William Faulkner ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Walking on the Ceiling by Ayşegül Savaş ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara ⭐️⭐️⭐️

ŞUBAT / February

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

MART / March

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib ⭐️⭐️1/2
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Funeral Rites by Jean Genet ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We Wrote in Symbols edited by Selma Dabbagh ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

NİSAN / April

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

2022 totals
January: 5
February: 5
March: 7
April: 1

Total: 18

Abandoned: Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison by Daniel Genis

Welcome back for another year!

Dropping a star, Ursula, and thrilled to see you here.

>3 drneutron: Thank you, it's good to be here!

>4 Crazymamie: Happy to see you too Mamie!

I'm hoping I'll be able to be around a little bit more in 2022, but it's hard to say. In addition to my daily Turkish class, I'll also be giving English lessons to my Turkish teacher 3 days a week.

ed!!

>6 Berly: Thanks! It took a second for the star to load and I was wondering why you were saying "ed!!" on my thread 😆

I'm going to start getting around to some threads in these next few "free" days - might as well start off with the best of intentions!

My husband just sent me this quote, he knew I could relate:

“Taking my husband’s last name doesn’t mean I’m not a feminist, it means I don’t want anyone I went to high school with to be able to find me ever again.”

>8 ursula: 0h, that is so Mrsdrneutron!

Okay, I guess I'll put my 2021 stats here:




I'm not mad about it really, though I wish I'd managed to get through more 1001 Books list books, and fewer Americans. But it's one of the few years when I read so many very recent books, that's not my usual pattern.

Well, onto 2022, whatever it brings.

This group always helps me to read; welcome back, Ursula.

Look forward to keeping up with you again this year. xx

>1 ursula: Great photo.

>10 ursula: Love your graphs Ursula.

Love the photo on top! Happy New Year, Ursula.

Happy reading in 2022, Ursula!

>7 ursula: LOL. Glad the image came through.

>10 ursula: Cool stats!!

Enjoy your 2022 reads!

Bringing my last book of 2021 over here because it has relevance to the current month's Asian reading challenge focus area of Turkey.



I did it, I finished Three Daughters of Eve last night (30 Dec). What do I have to say about it? Not a lot, really. It's the story of Peri, a woman from Istanbul who also spent some time attending university at Oxford. The book is mostly split between chapters of her life in 2016 Istanbul and her time at Oxford in 2001. Something mysterious happened there, although it's not that mysterious since the mention of a scandal involving a professor is brought up quite early.

I don't know, mostly this was an innocuous if overwritten book. But there were some really strange choices, like having a couple of chapters late in the book entirely centered around the professor. I didn't care at that point, and the chapters were ... odd. But it was better for me than her The Bastard of Istanbul, which I abandoned.

>9 drneutron: Haha I knew I couldn't be the only one!

>11 PaulCranswick:, >12 Caroline_McElwee:, >13 banjo123:, >14 FAMeulstee:, >15 Berly:, >16 thornton37814: Thank you all so much for the well-wishes!

>13 banjo123: I have taken approximately 2342120947 photos of street cats, so I might share more of them.

>10 ursula: great representation of stats there! I like the graphs and stats page.

Happy New Year and I hope to see you more this year!

Happy new year Ursula. The topper cat looks pretty much lord of all s/he surveys up there.

I like what you've done with the stats. I want to get better at using the LT charts.

>20 LovingLit: I hope to see everyone more this year too!

I had actually forgotten all about the revamped stats and graphs page here. I just went to look at it a few minutes ago. I don’t think it’ll keep me from continuing to do my own.

>21 charl08: Happy new year to you as well!

As for the cat, that's definitely a he! You can tell from the wide face, the males develop those wide face pads to help protect them from the inevitable fights.

I don't use the LT stats/charts, these are from a spreadsheet I keep myself.

Hi Ursula! Thanks for stopping by my thread! Dropping a star over here as well.
Would also love pics of street cats.

Happy New Year and happy first thread of 2022, Ursula!

>1 ursula: Yay for the cats.

>5 ursula: I love the idea of you teaching your Turkish teacher English. Brava!

>8 ursula: Fun quote. I took my husband’s name because I thought it a good family thing if we ever had kids. We have one daughter, so my decision worked out.

>17 ursula: Hmm. I loved 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World, but will pass on both books.

>19 ursula: What!? Only about 2342120947?

>23 ursula: Fascinating about the wide face pads. My little boy kitty does NOT have wide face pads, as he runs to the safety of the house when a stray wanders by although he will yell at strays through the safety of the glass door.

>25 vikzen: Noted, I will share some more as time goes on!

>26 karenmarie: I know, it seems like a shockingly low number of street cat photos for a year and a half, but in my defense, today I took 3 more!

I'm guessing your baby is fixed, and was fixed pretty early. Cats that are not neutered, or are neutered late, get taller and have those face shields.

Happy new year, Ursula! I love all your stats and graphs. #lifegoals

I took my husband's name because it is one syllable and only four letters, whereas my maiden name was longer and had an annoying silent letter in it... We all have our reasons!

>8 ursula: All I wanted was to marry someone with a last name earlier in the alphabet, but no, I stayed at the end with the exact same letter. Oh well. He is a good guy! It was the Wxxxx Wxxxxx Wedding!! LOL

>28 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

That's a good reason too! I was thinking Morgan's name would be easier for other people to understand too ... but unfortunately it has that dumb "d" in there (Rodgers), which is fine in the US, you can pretty easily get people to understand how to spell it. But in Turkey, you have to pronounce it as "rod - gairs" or no one will come close.

>29 Berly: Ws are good!

>29 Berly: I went from 'W' to 'A' when I changed to my husband's family name. A bit too early in the alphabet.

Hi Ursula - visiting your thread for the first time. I love the Istanbul street cats so more photos would be great.

>31 avatiakh: Yeah, I feel like A is just too early! I don't always want to be first.

Welcome to my thread, happy to see you. I will definitely try to keep posting street cats from my seemingly endless supply of photos. :)

Happy new year! Got your thread started so I can find it easier.

It's also the time of year when Morgan and I have just recently embarked on our yearly listening project of the top albums of the last year from a bunch of different sources. Here's a roundup of what we listened to.


The Guardian #50: Agnes - Magic Still Exists (pop)
Me: It feels like someone said "let's write a dance anthem"
Morgan: To some extent I realize that I don't really understand the appeal of music like this (in the sense that it's just not for me); but this doesn't feel like it has much personality on its own.

Morgan: 🙄
Me: 🥱


The Guardian #49: MØL - Diorama (blackgaze)

Me: I mean, you know I find this particular sort of screaming a little offputting
Morgan: The lyrics are totally vapid. They aren't cringey or bad, they just say absolutely nothing

Morgan: 🥱
Me: 🤷🏻‍♀️


The Guardian #47: Chai - WINK (experimental pop)

Morgan: First two songs very chill and groovy. Not very memorable though.
Me: I've learned they really like to spell. E-N-D, A-C-T-I-O-N
Morgan: I've liked their previous two albums but this was a slog, not offensively bad but boring and repetitive

Morgan: 😢
Me: 😕


The Guardian #46 Stephen Fretwell - Busy Guy (singer-songwriter)

Morgan: He probably wanted to play the drums but his dad was like "WHAT??? No Fretwell boy of mine is going to be a drummer"
Me: I liked it. There were some startling choices made which might grow on me or grate, hard to say
Morgan: I agree, a lot of the production choices felt a little weird on first listen; hard to know how they would make me feel on listen 3 or 4

Morgan: 👍 (modestly, he says)
Me: 👍 (with the above reservations)


NPR #50: Silk Sonic - An Evening with Silk Sonic (funk/soul)

Me: This is super 70s.
Morgan: Whatever I feel about Bruno Mars, he nails the attitude 100%

Note: this is a project of Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak and it features Bootsy Collins. The album gets a 🤩 from Morgan just for Bootsy's contributions. Lyrical highlights: "look here baby, I hope you found whatever you need/but I also hope your triflin' ass is walkin round barefoot in these streets" and "you smell better than a barbecue"

Morgan: 😎
Me: 🧨

Hi, Ursula. Happy 2022. English for Turkish sounds like an interesting trade!

Wowzer! Great opening thread. Keep it going.

I love your stats, Ursula. I want to read more diversely, and the stats I tracked, didn't track that at all. :(

>8 ursula: Yes!

>33 figsfromthistle: Hello and welcome! I'll drop by your thread as well.

>35 ffortsa: Hello! Well, we're not trading, he's going to pay me. :) In Italy we did a language exchange with someone but it was less formal. No text, we just read articles and talked about them. We'll see how this goes.

>36 weird_O: Thanks! I will do my best not to do a slow fade over the course of the year.

>37 BLBera: I know what you mean. I had started off wanting to have (and actually having) fewer American authors, but by the end of the year they drew out in front again.

:)

>34 ursula: LOL. Love your musical assessment. Thanks for sharing. : )

>27 ursula: Yes, our baby boy was fixed before we got him from the shelter when he was about 4 months old.

>39 Berly: Thanks! I am determined to keep a record of this stuff because much like with books, I think I'm going to remember stuff about it but I pretty quickly forget!

>40 karenmarie: Makes sense. The males on the streets here are not often neutered, so they tend to look more like that. Rollo was neutered kind of late since we got him off the street - young enough that he didn't fully develop, but he is definitely more leggy than Archie.

I shared a walking video in the Asian reading challenge January thread, and here is another one.

This is walking to Taksim Square at 8 in the morning yesterday. You just click on the preview at the bottom of the page to play the video.

Edit: hm, the link doesn't seem to be working there for some reason, here is the bare link: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0faaiFx73ckuKKqOkVSNW0oCA

>32 ursula: I kept/would keep my 'A' surname (even though I am not actually married, so really would have no reason to take another name) mainly because I would resent having to change my name, but mainly as I love my surname!

Hey Ursula,

Just jumping in to say hi and a belated Happy New Year on your thread.

Cats - Yes please, can never have too many pictures of them. I didn't know Instanbul was considered the city of cats, all the more reason to visit one day.

Love the charts and graphs, especially the scatterplot. For some reason its just esthetically pleasing to me.

Ursula thanks for another interesting video. I'm really enjoying your input on the Turkish authors thread.

>43 LovingLit: It's good that you love your name! I haven't had any attachment to mine.

>44 mahsdad: Hello! I enjoy that you adopted the scatterplot. :)

Here's another cat for you (and everyone else!):



>45 Crazymamie: Thanks for that, I am hoping I'm able to make it all come alive for people a bit.

Hey, I finished a book!



The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (horror)

Four Native American (Blackfeet) friends kill some elk they shouldn't have killed, in a place they shouldn't have been hunting. Years later, it still haunts them in various ways - and then it starts to literally haunt them.

This book was really tense for the first half, and then it was kind of like coming down that first hill on a roller coaster. Everything's been set up, and it just gets carried by its own momentum.

The good: spooky stuff, some really gruesome deaths, a couple of unexpected turns.

The bad: there was a section near the end that kind of bored me although I guess I understand why it was there.

The hmmm: I feel like the ending left me a little unsatisfied. There was nothing wrong with it, and I feel like it was appropriate for the characters being Native American, so it's entirely possible others wouldn't have any problem with it whatsoever.

>47 ursula: I have this one on The List from last year. The only thing I have read by him is My Heart is a Chainsaw, and I loved that.

My elder son and his twin daughters were in Greece last summer and thought IT was the Land of Cats. Cats everywhere. A regional thing? Not just Greece and Turkey?

>48 Crazymamie: Ah, interesting! I'll have to check that out. I didn't know anything about him when I picked the book up.

>49 weird_O: It's a bit of a regional (Mediterranean) thing. There are a lot of cats in Rome, and in Dubrovnik as well, although it's a bit of contentious thing or was when I was there in 2016. Venice used to be full of cats, though it isn't anymore.

You'll read online some bullshit about the cats in Istanbul being cared for because the people are Muslim and Mohammed once cut the arm off his robe when he woke up from a nap and a cat was sleeping on the sleeve. Look, that might have happened or not, but it's not the basis for the care of the cats here. If Islam has anything to do with it at all it's in the sense that cats are creatures created by Allah who deserve food and care.

More likely, it's just that in port cities there tend to be a lot of rats and the cats are useful to keep that population down (and in the past, the plague from running rampant). It becomes more complicated in the modern world, but nevertheless the cats are here and people care for them.

>49 weird_O: >50 ursula: I think there is also a very different attitude towards cats in the U.S. and Europe in general, including the U.K. In the U.K. for instance cats are generally allowed outside whenever they want, which I know is frequently not the case in the U.S. Rescue organisations expect this to happen, and are generally reluctant to home to an ‘indoor only’ situation unless it is required for health or some other reason. Many cats take advantage of this freedom and it’s not unusual for more than one household to believe that they ‘own’ the cat. But most cats wandering around here probably do have an owner, which is probably much less likely in parts of the Mediterranean area.

My sister lives in Cyprus for a large part of the year and she certainly has a couple of cats that come to her terrace to be fed but that she doesn’t consider to be her cats.

Hi Ursula!

>42 ursula: I love that video – so many interesting things. The bakery and the vegetable stand, the architecture, the street car, folks masked and unmasked, and the flocks of birds. I saw the kitty and heard a dog.

>50 ursula: Good cat discussion. Port city – makes sense.

>51 SandDune: Our kitties are indoor-outdoor kitties. We open the kitty door in the morning and close it around twilight after doing a head count.

>51 SandDune: Yes, it's a different attitude.

>52 karenmarie: Glad you enjoyed it! The swifts in the video come swooping around my apartment windows at dawn and dusk too, they're lovely.

Here's a story for you all:

Last Monday I went in for an ob/gyn appointment, my first real doctor's appointment in Turkey. The doctor luckily spoke some English although she is originally from Russia. Anyway, she wanted me to make an appointment for a mammogram and an ultrasound (I guess just an extra diagnostic?).

So after the appointment we ended up talking with an interpreter at the hospital who said he would help us out scheduling the appointments at the various desks. He was originally from Egypt and honestly, both his Turkish and his English seemed a little shaky but he knew his way around the hospital so *shrug*.

He got my appointments scheduled, although unfortunately one on Thursday afternoon and one on Friday afternoon. I'm also supposed to do a fasting blood test, and he said "well you can just do that before the Thursday appointment." It's at 3:45 in the afternoon! I'm not keen on fasting until 4 in the afternoon. Anyway.

We decided to just go to the Thursday appointment and while we were there, try to reschedule the Friday appointment since no one would answer the phone at the hospital/call us back.

I got to the registration desk, told the woman that I was there for a mammogram, and she said their machine was broken.

...

It took 10 minutes of walking, 50 minutes of bus, and another 10 minutes of walking to get to the hospital. Could someone have called and told us the appointment was pointless?! Of course not. I tried to get her to reschedule the appointment for Monday morning and she said no, because they didn't know if the machine would be working then.

I lost my temper and Morgan swooped in to take care of it. After some back and forth, she gave him a number to call to help with rescheduling the appointment. He sat in the waiting area and called it. The woman on the other end didn't speak English, so as he was trying to muddle through the conversation, the woman at the desk walked over with the desk phone in her hand - she was on the other end of the line.

What in Kafka's nightmares was this?!

Anyway, she rescheduled me for Monday, the previously-impossible day. She also gave him a different number to call and check on if the machine was working before then. After that, he headed up to the ultrasound desk to see about rescheduling that appointment. He ran into the interpreter up there, and through him found out that the machine had been broken on Monday when they made my appointment.

They said it was impossible to reschedule, they're totally booked, blah blah. Then they found out that I hadn't had the mammogram yet and said they won't do the ultrasound before the mammogram so miraculously they found another appointment time for me.

So, round trip time about 4 hours, 3 fares each on transit, and nothing got done.

>54 ursula: - That is crazy-making!

>56 Crazymamie: YIKES! Sorry you had to deal with all of that, Ursula.

>55 katiekrug:, >56 Crazymamie: Yes, it was an adventure, not of the good kind! And that's not even taking into account that the public transit fees (like everything else) have recently increased.

>47 ursula: I've heard quite a bit about this book lately. On my WL it goes.

Have a great Weekend!

>54 ursula: What a frustrating day!
Reminds me very much of living in Egypt but that was over thirty years ago.

Notwithstanding the above I hope you can still have a great weekend, Ursula.

>42 ursula: Thank you for posting this video, Ursula.
--I am intrigued by Istanbul's narrow streets. Where do people park (if they can't get one of those parking slots in the indented sidewalks)?
--I definitely would have stopped at that bakery you passed! I have no resistance to shops like that! :D
--The mosque was beautiful, but the way you captured the birds flying over it was indeed very special.

>54 ursula: This sounds like a horror short story by Stephen King--kind of a nightmare scenario, but you had me in stitches just reading about it. I'm sure you didn't feel mirth when you were experiencing all of this. I hope you are able to successfully undergo these screening tests with no further adverse events.

>58 figsfromthistle: Interesting, I think I chose it because it was on a list of recommended horror novels on the main page of the library I use. I saved a bunch of those titles, maybe I'll get to more of them this year. I hope you're having a good weekend too.

>59 PaulCranswick: I doubt a lot has changed in terms of the sort of lack of communication and bland indifference to snafus. I hope your weekend was good.

>60 SqueakyChu: Where do people park

Well, near the beginning of that video on the left there is a sign that says "otopark". There are some parking lots here and there. Also, this particular street is busy and two-way - lots of the surrounding streets are (ostensibly) one way and cars park along those. But really, the traffic in the city is a nightmare and parking is not far behind. It's better not to have a car, or to use it mostly for leaving the city.

Edited to add: this is where those pillars on the sidewalks become most important. Without them, people will park on the sidewalk. And drive on them, but that's a somewhat separate issue. Scooters still do park on the sidewalk to a certain extent and they will also certainly drive on them. You've gotta be on your toes walking around here.

The Taksim mosque is an eyesore, honestly. It was only opened in May of last year, construction on it started in 2017. It's probably the 2nd ugliest mosque in Istanbul, topped only by the Çamlıca mosque which was opened in 2019. The best thing about the Taksim one for me is that I can see its towers from my apartment window.

Ha, well I do aim to make these things at least a little bit funny. It was definitely both a nightmare and also so absurd I couldn't help but if not laugh, at least shake my head in rueful amusement.

Here's a quirky little street. For those of you reading My Name Is Red, this is located in the Fener-Balat neighborhood where that book is set (although I'm sure it looked different!).

The Wild Palms by William Faulkner (later published as If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem)

First line: "The knocking sounded again, at once discreet and peremptory, while the doctor was descending the stairs, the flashlight's beam lancing on before him down the brown-stained stairwell and into the brown-stained tongue-and-groove box of the lower hall."

Two narrative threads make up this book, one involving a convict sent to rescue people in a flood on the Mississippi and the other about a doctor (almost, he leaves before his internship is finished) who runs away with a married woman.

The two stories don't intersect in the plot, but they reflect and illuminate each other. As is typical of the few Faulkner books I've read, I spent a fair amount of time wondering what on earth was going on. This is partially because I kept having to set the book aside for days at a time when I started it, and Faulkner is not an author that works very well with. Once I was able to devote more steady time to it, it became somewhat easier reading.

"Given the choice between the experience of grief and nothing, I would choose grief."

It was interesting that this ended up having a thematic overlap with Red Clocks, which I started a couple of days ago. They share the topics of pregnancy, birth and abortion.

Walking on the Ceiling by Ayşegül Savaş

First line: "For a short time when I lived in Paris, I was friends with the writer M."

I picked this one out from the library's digital collection just because I recognized the Turkish name. It's her debut novel, apparently, and now she has another one out, White on White. Anyhow, it's narrated by Nurunisa, called Nunu, who is from Istanbul and has come to Paris to go to school, except she does a soft dropout and just doesn't attend classes.

Instead, she takes walks with a British writer, M., with whom she engineers a meeting after one of his book signings. Literally, this is the book - she walks with him and they exchange stories. She tries to entice him with her stories of Istanbul (he wrote at least one book set there), partially her memories and observations, partially her mothers, and the rest some mix of those and fiction.

She learns some things about herself and how she has viewed her family, specifically her mother, but not much is overtly wrapped up. She muses and makes some somewhat poetic comments on things, but don't expect a lot of actual forward movement. If you're not looking for much to happen, you might enjoy this book.

I don't know if it's familiarity with one and not the other, or if it's intentional, but Istanbul feels like more of a presence in the book than Paris does even though most of the time Nunu is in Paris.

"This was a time when Istanbul’s name was popular around the world. Much was made of its diversity, the so-called meeting point of two worlds. All of a sudden, there were books upon books about Istanbul, its sad and glorious past—in these books, it seemed, Istanbul was always sad and glorious, as if the city had done nothing but decay from an unseen splendor."

Hello, Ursula!

>63 ursula: So interesting about the theme overlapping with that of The Red Clocks - serendipity. I don't do Faulkner, so I am not tempted.

>64 ursula: I really love that last quote.

>65 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! It was serendipity, and I was certainly not looking for any connections between the two! I've had a few cases of that happen over the years. Always fun.

I like the quote too, it speaks to me. People here love to complain about what Istanbul used to be ... and I get that, but it's not impossible to see the good that still exists. (Although now I can be one of the complainers since in the time we've been here, they've built up the waterfront next to the Bosphorous with a monstrous complex of shopping and eating for cruise ships to dock at.)

Also: today is my birthday.

Happy birthday, Ursula!

Happy Birthday Ursula. Any celebratory plans? I hope there was a book shaped parcel or two.

Happy Birthday, Ursula!

Happy birthday!

Thanks, all! It’s the big 5-0.

No plans, I picked up cookies for everyone on the way to my Turkish class, and then spent the next 5 hours learning Turkish and came home. Exciting!

No book shaped parcels, but the day before I did go buy a couple of books. We are starting to read one in Turkish in class, and I picked up another one by a Turkish author in English.

Ooo, a decade birthday. In my book, you celebrate those for 12 months from the date! Sadly my last decade birthday was in the first lockdown 2020, so I was more restricted, but I did what I could.

Happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Ursula!

At my last job before I retired, we called birthdays that ended in 0s or 5s significant birthdays, so an additional happy significant birthday.

>73 Caroline_McElwee: Interesting take on it! I'll have to think about how I might keep the celebration going.

>74 curioussquared: Thank you!

>75 karenmarie: Thanks for the significant birthday wishes!

Oh, Happy Birthday! I hope the rest of the month honors your temporal achievement! (I'm way ahead of you there.)

I've been hearing about the problems with the Bosporus, as ships come through more frequently, with and without tourists. More human-made changes that may end up in disaster.

Doğum günün kutlu olsun!

...and, yes, I did use Google translate! :D

>77 ffortsa: Thank you!

Yeah, there are plenty of problems with ship traffic in somewhat delicate places like the Bosphorus already. Cruise ships are the worst of the worst for all the types of havoc they wreak.

>78 SqueakyChu:

Teşekkür ederim!

Google translate does pretty well for basic things in Turkish now. My understanding is that maybe as recently as 5 years ago it was a complete disaster. Another way to say "happy birthday" that I enjoy is "İyi ki doğdun", which literally means "fortunately you were born".

Happy belated birthday, Ursula!

>80 banjo123: Thanks so much!

Now we're gearing up for Morgan's birthday on the 18th. It's a busy time here. :)

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

I don't know that I've processed all the nuances of this one, but I really enjoyed it.

First line(s):

"Born in 1841 on a Faroese sheep farm,

The polar explorer was raised on a farm near

In the North Atlantic Ocean, between Scotland and Iceland, on an island with more sheep than people, a shepherd's wife gave birth to a child who would grow up to study ice."

Abortion is illegal, thanks to a Personhood Amendment, and Canada is not an escape because they will send you right back to the US if they suspect you are trying to get in to have an abortion. (The very idea of being forced to take a pregnancy test at the border ....) In addition, there's a new law coming into effect soon, Every Child Needs Two, which will prevent single parents from adopting or having in vitro fertilization.

The chapters alternate between different women in a small Oregon town - the chapters are headed by their roles (The Mender, The Wife, The Biographer, The Daughter), and there are also snippets from The Biographer's book, about a female polar explorer. You do eventually find out everyone's name, and it's a little difficult at first to understand the relationships as you're putting that together, but it makes sense pretty quickly. There's a lot of interplay between the way the chapter headings characterize each woman, how they characterize themselves, and how the world characterizes them.

There are lots of things to think about - what you want your role in life to be (do you want to be a mother or not) and how much of that role is determined by biology or society rather than your own actual wants (and how can you even begin to separate them), what is motherhood supposed to look and feel like, how do you support someone's decision when it is not the decision you desperately want them to make, what following your own path can cost you.

"Before having kids, she envisioned motherhood as a jubilant merging. She never thought she would long to spend time away from them. It is hideous to admit she can't bear the merging 24-7. Same guilt that's kept her from putting John in daycare: she doesn't want it to be true that she wants to be apart."

Firstly happy belated birthday - or happy birthday weekend!

Secondly I enjoyed your reviews of Walking on the Ceiling and Red Clocks and they made me want to look for the former and reappraise the latter.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>83 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the belated birthday wishes!

Glad you enjoyed the reviews, hope you have had a good weekend.

I nearly died laughing at this article about a university professor's intro tirade to his classes. (NYTimes article, but I've "gifted" it so the link isn't behind the paywall whether or not you've used up your free reads.)

Hi Ursula!

>64 ursula: I somehow missed reading your review last time I visited, but now I have and it’s definitely a BB! I’ve just bought it for my Kindle.

>85 ursula: Mehler's tirade was a hoot.

>82 ursula: I was just hearing this book calling to me on Berly's thread! I guess seeing it again has sealed the deal :)
BB.

Music update:


NPR #49: -io - Circuit des Yeux (experimental)

Me: This song (Dogma) reminds me of the Eurythmics a bit
Morgan: The Chase makes me feel like I'm at one of those clubs from Babylon Berlin
Morgan: Oh god, the screaming!

Note: this one veered between musical theater and Evanescence, and back to primal scream therapy.

Me: 🙉
Morgan: 🦃


NPR #48: GUMBO'! - Pink Siifu (hip hop, jazz rap)

Morgan: still pretty weird, but actually has some cool beats
Me: I feel like that was actually less annoying and chaotic than the one from last year
Morgan: Not all of it was my thing, and it was a little too mumbly to be really memorable

Me: 🧐
Morgan: 🙌


NPR#47: ... And Then There's This - Artifacts (jazz)

Me: I was thinking what a disservice jazz has been done because I always think of it in terms of what movie it would be soundtracking.
Morgan: What's this one? (Reflections)
Me: This is a jewel heist... See, they closed the door and got away clean at the end.
Morgan: I feel like they all have a similar vibe, not sure if it's just that they have the same instruments consistently or if it really is some other kind of similarity in the songs.

Me: 🤷🏻‍♀️💎 (for the jewel heist)
Morgan:🤷🏻‍♂️


NPR #46: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (Nelsons/Repin) - Sofia Gubaidulina: Orchestral Works (classical)

Morgan: For me, this just feels super ... atmospheric? It doesn't bother me, it just doesn't do a lot for me either.
Me: Yeah, I feel like there are parts that intrigue me ... but then it goes back to something kind of innocuous

Me: 🥱 (for something that included a piece called God's Wrath it wasn't very dramatic)
Morgan: 🥱


Pitchfork #50: Urban Driftwood - Yasmin Williams (instrumental guitar)

Me: I like this one (Swift Breeze)
Well less so here near the end. But I liked the beginning a lot
Morgan: There is stuff that I like about these, and then there is stuff I find annoying. But I really like the beginning of this one (Jarabi)
Me: I don't know anything about guitars so I can only judge it based on whether or not I find it pleasant or interesting to listen to and mostly I'd say yes

Me: ☮️
Morgan: 👍

We’ll, now I’ve got some music to try on Spotify. Haven’t heard of Williams, but as a guitar player, instrumental guitar is one of my go-tos.

>86 karenmarie: haha, you almost dodged it, but not quite. :)

The tirade made us laugh a lot because we also talk about “disease vectors”.

>87 LovingLit: I hope you enjoy it when you get there.

>89 drneutron: Williams has an interesting thing going on with her guitar. She sometimes plays it flat and has some other accoutrements attached to it.

Yesterday I was in Fatih and here’s another take on the call to prayer (I had posted a different video to the Turkey thread previously). This one is what it’s like in a place where you are in close proximity to at least 4 mosques.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/073V-u4mFM2cpDwiAQVsi-Bqw

I've started another book for the Asian Reading Challenge - a Pamuk book, A Strangeness in My Mind. This will be my ... fifth book by him, I think.

>92 ursula: I'm tempted to read another Pamuk too but I might wait until later in the year as I have a few more Turkish writers to get through this month.

Have a lovely weekend.

>93 PaulCranswick: I might have waited for this specific one too if I'd realized it was 600 pages! That means I'm mired in that one and Yanagihara's 700-page book.

But I'm planning to read Turkish authors beyond January, so I guess in the end it doesn't matter too much the order I get to them. I decided on this one because it's about a boza seller, which is a winter thing. And every night for the last month or so I've heard a bozacı calling outside in our neighborhood. :)

Ursula, I enjoyed a walk through your January thread. I have read The Only Good Indians which I thought was pretty good. And happy birthday, late, I do like that blessing “fortunately you were born”. Have a great year.

Hello, Ursula! I am enjoying the music updates - so fun!

>91 ursula: I loved this so thanks for sharing.

>95 Kristelh: My husband is reading it now, and let's just say he thinks everyone is getting what they have coming to them. It's kind of interesting to listen to him saying "I'm team Elk Head Woman" every time he puts down the book.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

>96 Crazymamie: Glad you are! We have been very slow to listen over the last week or so, things have been so busy! But it's a project we enjoy so we'll definitely get back to it.

Also happy you enjoyed the video. We hear the call to prayer from our apartment but we don't hear it from 4 mosques at the same time! Also, when we were looking at our apartments even without really knowing, I knew that we should avoid ones whose balcony had a minaret view. "No apartments with a personal minaret," I told Morgan.

I just finished watching The Secret History of Writing from the BBC. Generally it was pretty interesting (I confess a few parts bored me), and in the beginning of the third part of it they talk about the switch from using Arabic script to using the Latin alphabet for Turkish. Anyway, if you've got 3 hours to spare and you're interested in that sort of thing, you might enjoy it.

Bonus for me, I got to hear spoken Uzbek, which shares some vocabulary with Turkish. I could catch things here and there, but it's a little like listening to Portuguese when you understand Spanish or Italian - some things are the same and overall you feel like you should be able to understand it, and yet it's just a bit out of reach.

Rollo watching Fritz vs. Tsitsipas.

>99 ursula: Surely the cat in Turkey is not supporting the Greek player?!

>99 ursula: Too funny!!

>100 PaulCranswick: Never! But because he’s an obnoxious twit who gets illegally coached, not because he’s Greek.

>101 Crazymamie: he was hoping for birds, but tennis held his interest for a bit.

This was yesterday morning. We got more snow last night, more maybe due tonight.

>102 ursula: I guess you are not entirely sure about him then, Ursula!

I would like the young Canadian to win to be honest or the Italian chap that was runner up at Wimbledon. Nadal is looking good though as is Medveydev.

>103 ursula: What a great photo.

>103 ursula:, Agree with Paul, great pic

>104 PaulCranswick: The young Canadian? Which one - Shapovalov or Auger-Aliassime? Hopefully the latter, since Shapovalov was eliminated today. I also like Berrettini, at the moment I am watching him play Monfils. At this point in the tournament I am okay with anyone winning whose name isn't Tsitsipas.

>105 PaulCranswick:, >106 Kristelh: Thanks! I love the city in the snow.

I'm enjoying your photographs, Ursula. >103 ursula: is beautiful, though the steps look treacherous!

I'm kind of hoping that Rafa wins the tournament because it puts him in really good position to get to 22 with the French, and would make it interesting to see him and Djokovic compete for the most majors. But I don't have a strong preference at this point. It's been an interesting tournament to follow!

>82 ursula: Yay! Another fan of Red Clocks! I had no idea that book would be so divisive. But that's okay. Each to her/his own. : )

Loving all your photos and continued music recs. And I will also be watching tennis today. Enjoy!

>108 bell7: They are, and the city is full of them. This is why there’s not a lot going on in the city this week! Universities and schools are closed.

I would love Rafa to win.

>109 Berly: I’m honestly surprised it was so divisive. I didn’t find anything objectionable or excessively off-putting in it.

I watched Medvedev vs Auger-Aliassime yesterday. Another good match!

Time for a music post!


Stereogum #50: Within One Stem - Closer (screamo)

Morgan: That guitar doesn't totally feel like it matches the singing, but alright
Me: I'm not sure what would match the singing
Me: I mean, I don’t know, I find this sort of thing hard to judge
I don’t know why I can like something like the Death Grips or whatever other weird hip hop stuff we’ve uncovered but I haven’t seemed to develop any ability to think anything at all about someone screaming at me incessantly
Morgan: Being into the genre, my thoughts on it are coming from a totally different place. I thought the music was sometimes interesting but generic, screaming was super monotone so it lacked any real emotion, and the talking/spoken parts weren’t pulled off really well

Morgan: 🤕
Me: 🤕


Stereogum #49: In These Silent Days - Brandi Carlile (singer-songwriter/alt-country)

Me: I’m already enjoying the unexpected structure of this first one (Right on Time)
Me: "only broken horses know to run" that's a good line
Morgan: "I'm a tried and weathered woman but I won't be tried again"
Morgan: Not sure I'm crazy about this one (Sinners, Saints and Fools). We got the wild "everybody solo!" moment

Morgan: 👍
Me: 🥰


Stereogum #48: Head of Roses - Flock of Dimes (pop rock) (this is the solo project of the singer from Wye Oak)

Morgan: The opener "2 Heads was really pretty
Me: I feel like the most interesting thing about this song (Price of Blue) is the way she's using her voice
Morgan: yeah, agree. I really like that insane vibrato or whatever effect on this guitar solo part. But the way her voice gets used is also REALLY interesting
Me: this one (Walking) also has some chord changes and melodic elements that bring to mind classic folk
Morgan: I was just coming here to say that. Super cool guitar picking

Morgan: 🥰
Me: 👍


Stereogum #47: Pray for Haiti - Mach-Hommy (rap)

Morgan: I guess this guy is kind of part of Griselda (Westside Gunn, and a bunch of other people we listened to last year)
this is pretty weird (not a bad thing)
Me: yeah I feel like it’s maybe more interesting than the other Griselda stuff we’ve listened to
Me: I'm afraid to ask what he said
Morgan: yeah, there's been quite a few of those
(research on why his lyrics aren't available online)
I guess it will stay a mystery
Morgan: It was really well done, a lot going on, need to really process how I feel about some of the lyrical content but could be argued it wouldn’t be out of place among classic solo albums from Wu-Tang members I think.

Morgan: 🤯
Me: 🧐


Stereogum #46: Screen Violence - Chvrches (synth pop)

Morgan: Super poppy, but I like the synths, they sound pretty cool
It gives an 80s vibe without sounding exactly like they are making a replica
Me: "No one ever tells ya, there's freedom in the failure"
I'm actually sort of digging her accent
Morgan: I love that this sounds like a pop song, but if you took away everything but the drums it could be from something like the Prodigy, haha
I feel like a lot of them sort of could be seen as - as poppy as like an Avril Lavigne or something even. But her accent gives a lot of character, and the dark lyrics definitely add a lot
Me: I could have honestly seen that as a Taylor Swift song (nb. this is a positive)

Some other lyrics:
"Killing your idols is a chore/and such a fucking bore/cause I don't need them anymore"
"I cut my teeth on weaker men"
"I drink and I think too much; I should quit one of the two"

Morgan: 💒
Me: 💒

Well, I just spent my day watching the men's Australian Open final. Whew, what a match! (That's all I'm gonna say for the moment.)

It was quite the nail biter with some amazing rallies!!!

>113 Berly: It really was! Rafa overcame all the odds - what a sweet, sweet victory.

I occasionally do Wordle, not obsessively like some people around here!

I haven't been copying my successes, including the one from a couple of days ago that I got in 2 tries (😭), but here is today's:

Wordle 226 3/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

First line: "He had come into the habit, before dinner, of taking a walk around the park: ten laps, as slow as he pleased on some evenings, briskly on others, and then back up the stairs of the house and to his room to wash his hands and straighten his tie before descending again to the table."

Hm.

I really loved A Little Life. I devoured it, and even though I know it was something like 700 pages long, it never felt like it dragged.

To Paradise is also 700 pages long, and I was aware of just how long it was. It begins in New York, in 1893, but you quickly become aware that this is not our New York in 1893, either through the text or because you paid attention to the maps provided at the front of the book. The US doesn't exist; instead there are The Free States (New England minus Maine and plus Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware), The Colonies (the south), The West (California, Oregon and Washington), America is the upper midwest extending to Nevada, etc. I don't even know why I typed all of that out, because most of it doesn't matter except in a tangential way. The story is set in New York, period. I'm starting to realize maybe I typed all that out because it's more interesting than a lot of what goes on in the book.

But more on that in a second, because the first part of the book was actually the best. David Bingham is the scion of one of the venerable families of the Free States, but he seems to lack direction and ambition. His grandfather is trying to get him married off (to a man, same sex marriage is totally acceptable), but David finally grows a backbone and starts making his own decisions.

Then the second part begins, and the setting is the same, except now it's the 1980s and our David Bingham is a paralegal. Presumably the same person on a different timeline, as he shares characteristics with the first one. And then the setting is also Hawaii ... look, this section was, I believe, the shortest one, but it felt so long. I seriously considered abandoning the book in this part.

The third part is set again in New York, this time in the 2090s, and jumping from there back in time via letters. (Are you feeling resemblances to Cloud Atlas? Me too.) Pandemics have ravaged the world for 50 years or more, etc etc. Like in the second section, we see a lot of the same character names applied to different people.

Before these comments also get to be 700 pages long, let me just say this: I kept reading because there are moments when Yanagihara's writing really swept me up like it did in her previous novel. Also because I felt like the first section was strong, and the last one definitely had its moments. But you can seriously skip that middle section and miss nothing at all.

I can't really recommend it, even though I think I'm going to give it 3 stars just on the basis of the writing. I can, however, recommend that you read Cloud Atlas if you haven't.

"And yet sometimes, on those summer nights, he thought he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to be somewhere between where he was, in a bed dressed in expensive cotton sheets next to the man he had grown to love, and on the street, skirting the edge of the park, squealing and clinging to his friends when a rat darted from the shadows inches from his feet, drunk and wild and hopeless, his life burning away, with no one to have dreams for him, not even himself."

Happy Tuesday!

>116 ursula: Excellent review!

>117 figsfromthistle: Thanks! It was ... a rainy Tuesday, as it turns out. But it's okay, it rained heaviest while I was in class, so I only had to walk to and from the bus in a light rain.

>116 ursula: Thanks Ursula for that long and very thoughtfully fair review of the latest massive Yanagihara book. I will probably add it to my collection but will wait till I can get a version of it that is mass market size. It just looks so unwieldy at present.

>111 ursula: As a committed music fan I was very interested to see what you are listening to even though some of it is a tad unfamiliar. The lyrics to Screen Violence look powerful.

>112 ursula: Yes, it was some game. I always feel a bit sorry for the loser of games like that but sheer will got the better of Medveydev.

>115 ursula: I am one of the obsessives having played eighteen days in a row. The good thing being of course that it will only allow a game a day.

>119 PaulCranswick: Yeah I'm glad I was reading the Yanagihara on the kindle. I certainly wouldn't have been reading it on the bus otherwise!

We have done this for a few years now, listened to the "top albums" from a bunch of different sources, some more mainstream than others. It keeps us listening to and discovering new things. Speaking of music, here are two songs unrelated to that that I've enjoyed and sent to Morgan. He liked them both too.

"The Unanswered Why" - William Doyle
"Young Man" - Jamestown Revival

(Both YouTube links, which I know can be problematic across regions, so hopefully they work for anyone who wants to check them out.)

Wordle 231 2/6

⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Ha!

Hi Ursula!

>91 ursula: So here’s a really dumb question. Is the call to prayer the same at every mosque or does it vary?

>99 ursula: Cute boy. Our kitties like watching TV too.

>103 ursula: Beautiful, especially the steps.

>121 ursula: My goodness. I’m impressed.

>122 karenmarie: Not a dumb question! Yes, the call to prayer is the same at every mosque. The müezzin used to climb the minaret and essentially shout it for every prayer. But now the mosque either has a müezzin inside doing it with a microphone, or they use a recording. Either way, it's broadcast through loudspeakers. (The loudspeaker issue is contentious here.)

As far as Wordle goes, I start with random words - that one happened to be a good one! CLOUT

Another photo from the life of Istanbul street kitties?

Okay!

>123 ursula: Are there any mosques in Istanbul which still call the faithful to pray in Turkish instead of Arabic, Ursula, or has it been standardised now?

>121 ursula: Nice!

>124 ursula: Aw! That kitty looks mighty comfy. Cats are very good at making the most of things.

>125 PaulCranswick: They are all in Arabic.

>126 Crazymamie: All things considered, they get pretty spoiled. It's the rare store/cafe/restaurant that doesn't let them wander and sleep where they please.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

First line(s): "I wake up, get out of bed, say good morning to my plant, unwrap a protein bar, and drink a liter of bottled water. I'm awake for five full minutes before remembering I might die today. When you get old, you get soft."

Finished this one today. If you're into horror (or pop culture, I guess), you'll know what a "final girl" is. She's the one who survives to the end of the movie and ends up confronting the killer. In this book, there are several of them who have been going to group therapy together for years, through the movie franchises spawned by their lives and their various responses to their trauma. But now one of them has been killed and it seems that a monster is back to finish them all off.

We see the story through the eyes of Lynnette, whose response to what happened to her has been to shut down. Like, literally and completely - taking circuitous routes to and from group, and never going anywhere else. Always sitting with her back against a wall. Never letting anyone know where she lives. Never letting anyone anywhere near her, physically or emotionally. So clearly she's doing just fine.

It's breezy, kind of trope-y, and fun if you're into that sort of thing (horror, I mean, not fun. I assume you're into fun). I probably would have enjoyed it more if I liked horror movies, which I do not. I like horror novels, but the movies not so much. But still, it was a good, twisty and turny sort of read.

"Final girls learned a long time ago not to rely on things other people take for granted. We all know that elevators and telephones never work when we need them."

>123 ursula: Thanks for the answer.

>124 ursula: Awwww.

>128 ursula: Added to my wish list.

>129 karenmarie: Do you watch horror movies? It's funny, I have read a good amount of horror in my life but I never watch the movies, especially the slasher ones that this book is born from.

Another couple of albums from the 2021 lists:


Complex #50: Culture III - Migos (rap)

(We started this one unsure how much of it we would make it through. I think we listened to a previous album on another year's list.)
Morgan: This one is kind of lame. Like the beat is nothing, and the pausing cadence of the lyrics is just ... awkward?
Me: I thought he said something about acne but I guess it was "@ me"
Me: when I'm not tuned in at all to the lyrics, it's fine. Not something that is irresistible but fine
Morgan: Agreed, but also like there's not enough variety from song to song that I need to listen to more than 10 of them ...(skipping after 8 songs)...
Me: so we can call that one done
Morgan: yes, absolutely

Morgan: 💩
Me: 💩


Treblezine #50: Illusory Walls - The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (indie)

Me: the music sounds a little like Postal Service with guitars (Queen Sophie for President)
Morgan: these lyrics though
Me: I'm trying to let the lyrics wash over me because I'm afraid they'll ruin everything
Morgan: I should start doing the same
Me: okay against my better judgment I clicked on lyrics, but it doesn't matter because it's a literal wall of text and ain't no one got time for that (Fewer Afraid)
Morgan: I liked a lot of the melodies and the guitar work. the vocals themselves were kind of cool, I liked the way they harmonized, overlapped and did a bunch of interesting things.

Quote of the album, from Morgan: "That song came together in the last 8 minutes or so" (the last song is 20 minutes long)

Morgan: 😅
Me: 😬

Hello, Ursula! As always I love following your musical dialogue.

>128 ursula: I am wanting to read this one. Nice review. I don't watch horror movies anymore, but back in high school this is what our group did for entertainment - went to see the latest horror movie. I have seen almost everything from the 80s. Heh.

>132 Crazymamie: And as always, I'm behind! Haha.

That's awesome, I think you'd like it then. It definitely draws on that golden age of '80s to early '90s slasher films.

Your music reviews always entertain, even though I've never heard of any of them...

The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem

First line: "My mother put on mismatched shoes and ran out of the house."

This is the first book I'm reading this month for the Asian Reading Challenge. February is the Holy Land.

The book is set in modern-day Jaffa. One day as the city awakens people start to realize that their Palestinian neighbors are not at work. They're not at home, either. In fact, they don't seem to be anywhere. There are no signs of violence; they're simply gone.

How do the Israelis react to this, as the days wear on and no explanation is forthcoming? Is it some sort of plan executed by the Palestinians, or maybe by the Israeli government itself?

There are a range of theories and reactions, as could be expected. Reflecting the bigger picture are the Israeli reporter Ariel and his missing Palestinian friend Alaa, whose diary Ariel reads. The diary mostly reflects Alaa's thoughts on his beloved grandmother and what she said about the nakba (the displacement of Palestinians in 1948).

The writing and/or the translation (see comment below about the translation) are not exactly flowing, but I was still very involved with the story. It's more of a set piece, an examination of the results of an inexplicable event than a from-here-to-there story.

A note about the translation: there are definite problems with the translation and editing - there are a fair number of typos, but more than that there are a lot of strange tense changes and other grammatical strangeness. Normally it might have made me frustrated, but I really wanted to find out what happened in the book so I read on.

Your Jaffa resembles mine. But it is not the same. Two cities impersonating each other. You carved your names in my city, so I feel like I am a returnee from history. Always tired, roaming my own life like a ghost. Yes, I am a ghost who lives in your city. You, too, are a ghost, living in my city. And we call both cities Jaffa.

Personal comments: I am sorry to say I've never read much about this part of the world. I feel like all my life there has been one prevailing narrative and as I learn more, I'm ashamed to have taken that at face value.

>134 katiekrug: I'm glad, since I post them about 50/50 for entertainment value/my own reference in the future. It's been really fun listening to so much new music these last few years though.

>135 ursula: I like the sound of The Book of Disappearance.

>123 ursula: I love to start Wordle with random words as well, Ursula. Otherwise I find it boring. :D

>111 ursula: "I drink and I think too much; I should quit one of the two"- haha- I love it!

>137 SandDune: Despite its flaws, I feel like it's worth reading.

>138 SqueakyChu: Part of the fun is coming up with a random word to start with for me. I agree that I would get bored always using the same thing.

>139 LovingLit: It is a good line!

Treblezine #49: Holoceno - Papangu (prog/post-metal)

Me: 3:11 seems short for a prog song
(I do see they get progressively longer)
(no pun intended)
Morgan: Extended organ break was pretty cool (Agua Branca)
Me: I don't consider myself a fan of prog, for whatever reason, but this is pretty okay to me.
Morgan: This one is pretty good (Terra Arrasada), for me the best one so far of the more "metal" ones
Me: The end of this one (Lobisomem) could have soundtracked an antler-wearing death and cannibalism cult**

Morgan: 🤯
Me: 👍

**We recently watched Yellowjackets


Complex #49: JOSE - J Balvin (reggaeton/latin pop)

Me: Does he have fire teeth? They're stupid, it just looks like he's sticking his tongue out with bubble gum.
Morgan: Ugh some of these have to be "bonus" tracks, hang on
I guess it really is 24 tracks ....
Me: I know he's probably singing about a rumba but I was thinking he was singing about a roomba
Morgan: with the glasses and the fire teeth, I wasn't expecting an album that would put me to sleep ... that's inexcusable when you stuff 24 tracks into your album. Some of these should have stayed in the vault.
Me: I feel like it's been kind of diminishing returns as it's gone on

Morgan: 🥱
Me: 😴

Every day this week we have some sort of writing assignment for our Turkish class so I'm kind of pressed for time, ugh.

Yesterday I had to write a couple of pages on the bad sides of technology, and today I have to create a presentation on the history, architecture and general information of a historical place in Istanbul.

For tomorrow, I need to write about an animal, preferably one that I think represents me. Maybe I'll do a tree porcupine. Or some other similarly poke-y animal. (Incidentally, a porcupine is an oklu kirpi (arrowed hedgehog/hedgehog with arrows).

>142 ursula: wow, if I could write about being a tree porcupine in Turkish, I would feel very accomplished! Although, I do recall being able to write about a surgical procedure in Japanese at university, and then still not really knowing how to speak it...so... ;)

Good luck!

>143 LovingLit: As it turns out, I wrote about a raccoon in Turkish. :) I am definitely better at writing than I am at speaking, although I can pretty much consistently make myself understood. It's just not very grammatically correct.

My writing is showing distinct signs of improvement though. I was able to successfully say "Raccoons in the city often live in the sewer system and eat trash or pet food." Which doesn't sound like much in English but trust me, there are some tricky thought processes involved in the Turkish version.

A Strangeness in my Mind by Orhan Pamuk

First line: "This is the story of the life and daydreams of Mevlut Karataş, a seller of boza and yogurt."

Finished this one today. It's my fifth Pamuk, and probably my favorite so far. Mevlut comes to Istanbul with his father, and they settle in to sell boza and yogurt. That's there in the first line, and that's pretty much what gets delivered.

The main problem in Mevlut's life is that he falls in love with a girl he saw once at a wedding, and writes her love letters until she runs away with him to get married. Except he marries a different sister than the one he had in mind when he was writing the letters. All of this comes out within the first few pages of the book, so no worries that anything has been spoiled.

Pamuk loves to really settle in to a character's life and examine all the nooks and crannies, whether or not they ultimately have any relevance in the reader's eye. I really enjoyed the depiction of Istanbul from the 1960s through 2012, which was obviously a time of huge change. So many things are different and yet, I recognize a lot of it even today.

There are two kinds of love in our land. The first kind is when you fall in love with someone because you don't know them at all. In fact, most couples would never fall in love if they got to know each other even a little bit before getting married. This is why our Blessed Prophet Muhammad did not think it was appropriate for there to be any contact between the boy and the girl before marriage. There is also the kind that happens when two people get married and fall in love after that, when they have a whole life to share between them, and that can only happen when you marry someone you don't know.

Also, from one of the Palestinian books I'm reading (a book of poetry!):

This is an erasure poem from a NYTimes article of 2010:



(How appropriate to be an erasure.)

Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

Book 2 of the month for the Asian Reading Challenge.

First line: "Amal wanted a closer look into the soldier's eyes, but the muzzle of his automatic rifle, pressed against her forehead, would not allow it."

This book gets its title from Jenin, a refugee camp for Palestinians fleeing the Nakba set up in what was in 1948 part of Jordan but later became part of territory occupied by Israel. It's a family saga, so there are generations of family involved. The first generation is anchored by the matriarch Dalia, whose children (Yousef, Ismael and Amal) are small when the Nakba happens. Around 10% of the way into the book, we find out that the toddler Ismael is ripped from Dalia's arms when they're fleeing by an Israeli soldier and taken to be raised as his own. Ismael becomes David, raised a Jew.

If you're thinking that this is going to turn into a saga of nature vs nurture, religious differences and a search for true identity, you are totally wrong. Ismael/David essentially disappears from the book entirely and although we do see him again, I think he could have never appeared again and it wouldn't have significantly changed the story.

This is the story of the Palestinians - what they experienced, what it means to be "displaced", what it means to escape there and make a new life (with all the literal and figurative scars you take with you, and the fact that you have to leave so many others behind to terrible fates), what it means to lose people without ever knowing for sure what happened to them.

The story was probably more involved than it needed to be (the author did a lot of research on various events and I can understand wanting to include as much as possible), and the writing was definitely overwrought. For no reason at all, she switches between first person chapters and omniscient narrator chapters - everything in the omniscient chapters could have been worked in in some other way, or left out entirely. She has an annoying habit of slapping you in the face with foreshadowing: "For this decision, one day Yehya would beg his son's forgiveness as they all camped at the mercy of the weather, not far from the home to which they could never return." "The physical remnant of that day was a distinctive scar that would mark Ismael's face forever, and eventually lead him to his truth." Also, sometimes the dialogue is ridiculous. "Rage and the impunity I knew I had throbbed in my arms when I was holding the rifle," said no one ever.

So I can't recommend it on the basis of the writing, overall. But for a look inside the results of the Nakba, and how those results stretch on and on and on, it's worth reading.

(Btw, the book was originally published under the title The Scar of David (Ismael has a scar on his face, and he becomes a Jew named David after he's kidnapped. Get it? Get it?!), and I'm glad they dumped that title although Mornings in Jenin doesn't sound like what this is either.)

>147 ursula: - I've had this one on my shelf for several years. I recently read her latest novel and thought it was quite good.

Interesting time to be living in the part of the world you are...

>148 katiekrug: I would read another of hers at some point. I feel like my issues with this one could be because it was a first novel.

Interesting time to be here why? Ukraine? I mean, Turkey’s biggest problems with Russia have been over Syria and Azerbaijan. I’m guessing Ukrainian refugees will be acceptable to Europe, so it’s less of a problem for Turkey.

Music time:


Complex #48: Expensive Pain - Meek Mill (rap)

Me: we're never making it through this
Morgan: No way are we making it through. But Young Thug!
omg that album art though
Me: why are they all animated now
Is this what happens when people are too young to remember geocities?
Morgan: yeah, they are doomed to continually recreate geocities for eternity
Me: wait. "caught all them bitches and all of them leeches so there ain't no more wearing ..."
I'm so disappointed it didn't end with "breeches"
Morgan: technically, there were some skills on display that I feel aren't super common in all the other albums that otherwise sound super identical. But THIS....
this is where he's trying to get deep, and it's really pretty sad ... not in the way intended (Expensive Pain)
Me: Let's skip to the Young Thug
Morgan: this is already a terrible song to have Young Thug on, what a waste. Well, after this I'm 100% done with this bullshit album.

Morgan: 🤕
Me: 🤕


Complex #47: Twopointfive - Aminé (hip-hop/rap)

Morgan: It's interesting that it manages to be strange, but still really comically bad
this one (Colors) is maybe less bad than the previous one, but that last one was so horrible it's hard to put it out of mind
um
"That's not a glock that's my pickle" (NEO)
Me: I'm sorry, I laughed
"at Disney doing acid"
that sounds terrible
Morgan: <shares blurb saying that these "pointfive" projects are less serious breaks in between albums>
Me: I like the idea
Morgan: yeah, same. I can imagine the pressure when every release needs to be something super big budget, guests, etc
"here for a good time not a long time"
Me: that's why the album is short!
Morgan: very meta.

Morgan: 😵‍💫
Me: 😑


Treblezine #47: Open the Gates - Irreversible Entanglements (jazz)

Morgan: I liked the first one This one (Keys to Creation) isn't bad, but has kind of faded into the background for me. How about you?
Me: I don't know, I am sort of opposed to the spoken word over jazz thing
but it's just a personal problem
Morgan: I feel like this super repetitive sort of stuff is not my favorite either
Me: Yeah although that's how jazz and prog develop motifs or whatever right?
Morgan: yeah, I guess that's how the motifs get developed. I don't really know why sometimes it feels less repetitive than others
Me: right, I mean I guess it's an obvious observation. But you hit what I was getting at ... sometimes what I call meandering bullshit is developing something and you're into it but I'm not :)
Morgan: "water is the essence of beauty"
Me: "the one who lives in the blood milk of our quantum mothers"
Morgan: "the one from the womb of iron and gold"
Me: I feel like I sort of hate jazz
Morgan: yeah, there is jazz I have heard that I like, but this isn't it.

Morgan: 🤷🏻‍♂️
Me: 😕


Complex #46: to hell with it - Pinkpantheress (pop/alt-pop)

Morgan: interesting drum&bass music for this one (I must apologise)
Me: I started to ask why you were apologizing and then I realized you wouldn't spell it that way
Me: huh, I didn't recognize the Linkin Park sample (Last valentines)
Morgan: it was completely transformed by using it in such an upbeat way I think. Worth listening to again.
Me: I'm enjoying it.
I feel like I'd maybe need to listen again, the songs are really short and so is the album, it's almost over and I haven't really processed anything
Morgan: totally, lyrics mostly passed me by. I would definitely listen again
that whole thing was interesting. I dug it.

Lyric: "I've heard all of your lines and there's no lines that I like"

Morgan: 😎
Me: 😊


Treblezine #46: Fatigue - L'Rain (experimental pop)

Morgan: 100% not what I was expecting.
Don't know what I was expecting, but not this.
Me: yeah I'm not sure how you'd be expecting this
the end of this going into some sort of gospel and uh Pink Floyd thing was interesting (Find It)
Morgan: this one feels unsettling (Blame Me) - even more than some of the others
Me: overall I've been liking it ... just a bit at a loss for words
This one kind of bored me (Take Two)
Morgan: yeah, maybe the only boring one.
Me: whatever the rest of it was, it certainly wasn't boring

Morgan: 🤯
Me: 🤔

>149 ursula: - Yes, I just meant the relative proximity, not that it would directly affect you.

>151 katiekrug: I definitely have thoughts about the willingness to take in refugees.

I've been sick for the last week with ... ? Omicron? Probably, although I'll never know. Today I feel somewhat human finally, which is nice.

Turkish teacher also was super sick again last week, so our test was postponed until ...? Who knows. It's a mystery, which is always great for a final test.

Morgan's dealing with some issues at his university too - the dean is doing her best impression of an evil overlord.

All in all, a banner week.

>150 ursula: I enjoy your collaborative album thoughts.

>153 ursula: Sorry you've been sick, and hope you continue to feel better over the next few days.

Edited to fix spelling

I hope the upcoming week is a better one all around!

>154 bell7: Thanks, we have a good time with it. And occasionally we find some gems. :)

I'm hopeful that I'll continue to improve.

>155 katiekrug: Thanks! Can't do anything about the work situation, but hopefully the other stuff gets better at least.

Leaving this here. (from the NYTimes)

Hi Ursula!

>129 karenmarie: I do not watch horror movies. I cannot see them as special effects like my daughter can. Mysteries and thrillers being my favorite genres, I can read about horrific stuff all day long, but put it on a screen, and nope. **shudder**

>135 ursula: This sounds fascinating to me, regardless of the typos and translation issues. I’ve purchased it from Amazon and it should arrive next Saturday.

>153 ursula: I’m sorry you’ve been sick, glad you’re feeling better. I’d go crazy to know if it was covid. We just got our 4 free covid tests from the US government. Bill requested them quite a while back. Sorry about Morgan having to deal with an evil overlord.

>157 ursula: Noted.

>157 ursula: - Saw that on Twitter and was like, "Oh FFS..." I can't even.

>158 karenmarie: I’m the same - reading is fine, but the imagery of a movie is super hard to get out of my head.

I hope you enjoy The Book of Disappearance. It sparked an interesting conversation with my Palestinian classmate.

Well, we’re not supposed to get tested unless we’re having serious problems (how else will the numbers go down?), so I will live with the mystery.

>159 katiekrug: ”Oh FFS…”

Exactly. Then I read a few more things and said “okay, that’s more than enough twitter for today.”

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd

Rifqa is a book of poetry, and I essentially do not read poetry. I can't remember when (if ever) I've read an entire poetry collection, and I actively avoid even reading singular ones. I'm not saying that as a point of pride, just letting you know that this is way outside of my comfort zone.

Anyway, the title is the name of El-Kurd's grandmother, who was born before the Nakba and died in 2020 without ever being able to return to the home she was driven from. She never stopped fighting though, never stopped giving witness to what the Palestinians suffered and continue to suffer. The poems tell her stories, and also El-Kurd's own - not only in Palestine but also touching on his time at university in Atlanta.

How is it as poetry? I have no clue. But I highlighted a lot of passages. Here are a few:

This is why we dance:
Because screaming isn't free.

Please tell me:
Why is anger -- even anger -- a luxury
to me?

(This Is Why We Dance)

May 15, 1998,
I was born before a closed house
that I called mine but have never been in.
      After nine years of fines
paychecks and playchecks
it was opened        for them
           not us.
The colonizers    youthful      differently clothed
rifles smacking against their hips    terrorist nation
celebrated stolen property      callous.
I cried -- not for the house
but for the memories I could have had inside it.

(Rifqa)

And from the afterword, talking about his first attempts to write poetry:

At first, I made two mistakes.

The first was that I trained myself to use "unbiased" words. What I'd refer to in Arabic as an "entity" would become a "state." Striving for a vocabulary void of accusation, I replaced "arrogate" with "confiscate," "dispossess" with "evict," and "lie" with "allege." This phenomenon is common among writers writing about Palestine, writers who worship the mythology of objectivity instead of satirizing it. There is this naive belief that Palestinians will acquire credibility only once they've amassed respectability. I did this to appear rational and unhostile. The truth, however, is very hostile.

The second mistake is what I will call "humanization": I portrayed my people only in the ways that adhere to ethnocentric civility, robbing them of their agency. It is to "women and children" Palestinians to death -- to infantilize Palestinians in the hopes of determining that, indeed, they deserve liberation.

Happy Monday!

Sorry to hear that you have been sick :( not fun. Hopefully, you feel better soon!

>162 figsfromthistle: I am mostly feeling better, thanks. It's just been so long since I've gotten sick ... gotta thank years of social distancing, masks etc. for that.

From the NYTimes the other day, what writers might have done instead of writing:

>145 ursula: I feel this one is going to be a graphic novel!

^ House of Mirth Joke Shop :) :) :)

Eta: I really have wanted to read Didion for a while now and The Year of Magical Thinking was top of the list. I wonder if it would be too emotional though...

>165 LovingLit: I also half-wondered if it was going to be a graphic novel! The cover certainly gives that feel.

I don't know if The Year of Magical Thinking would be too emotional. I haven't suffered any close losses to relate it to. I suspect that could make a huge difference. It has, of course, made me think about the loss of a spouse (for me, or for Morgan, either way). I imagine my thinking would be at least as magical as hers.

Today for the first time since we moved here in August 2020, we can walk around outside without a mask. The mask requirement has also been dropped for "well-ventilated" indoor spaces, whatever that means. And we no longer have to show our health code to enter places like malls and government offices.

>167 ursula: Will it result in an abandonment of masks, Ursula, do you think? In Malaysia I don't see people actively wanting to be relieved of their masks in the main.

>168 PaulCranswick: People aren't going to be wearing them where they're not required. But it seems that most stores will still be requiring them, and public transit. So they're not going to disappear completely just yet.

>169 ursula: I think the Malays and the ethnic Chinese here will largely continue to use them outside the home here, Ursula.

Happy Sunday!

Here we are close to loosing the mask mandate. We now also do not have to provide proof of vaccination. It will feel strange without a mask for a while.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

First lines:

Life changes fast.

Life changes in the instant.

You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.

The question of self-pity.

Those were the first words I wrote after it happened.

So begins Joan Didion’s raw account of what happened in her head following her husband’s sudden death.

It’s interesting, I had expected more about the magical thinking - about the expectation that he might come back, etc. But while that was a recurring part of it, a lot of it also was about the cognitive disturbances and thought “vortexes” that she suffered.

A sometimes difficult read, both when I found myself trying to avoid thinking about what it would be like to be in her situation, and when I thought about how the story would end - her husband died while her adult daughter was in intensive care. Her daughter would pull through after a couple of bouts with ICUs but ultimately would die less than 2 years later. How much can one person be expected to deal with?

I highlighted a lot of things in this book. Here’s one:

““I just can’t see the upside in this,” I heard myself say by way of explanation.

Later he said that if John had been sitting in the office he would have found this funny, as he himself had found it. “Of course I knew what you meant to say, and John would have known too, you meant to say you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

I agreed, but this was not in fact the case.

I had meant pretty much exactly what I had said: I couldn’t see the upside in this.”

I read that Didion a few years ago and was really impressed by it.

>171 figsfromthistle: It does feel strange to be outside without a mask. But we still need them often enough - going in places and on public transport - so we’re not without them for very long.

>174 ursula: I’m definitely glad I read it. I wasn’t sure going in how I was going to feel about it, not really being able to relate. But it was very good, I think so open and honest and … wondering, if that makes sense, at her own behavior, that it really drew me in.

A Year Of Magical Thinking is one of my all time favorite books.

No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib

First lines: "It is much too hot in here. Only my hands are freezing, even as they sweat onto the railing."

First book for March, the Arab World. It is primarily set in the US, about two Syrian immigrants, but I'm counting it anyway. The author was born in Lebanon and I'm assuming is of Syrian extraction although I didn't find anything saying that for sure anywhere.

Okay, the book: Hadi and Sama are two young people from Syria who took different paths to the US. Sama came to study, and Hadi came as a refugee. They fall (immediately) in love and get married. She is pregnant when his father dies and he decides to go back to Jordan for the funeral. Great... until Trump signs the travel ban, which happens while Hadi's flight is in the air. He is turned around at the airport and sent back to Jordan.

Sama doesn't know any of this is happening; she's at the airport waiting for him and in the chaos, gets jostled around enough that she goes into early labor and gives birth to their son prematurely. This seems like a lot of plot, and it is, but all of that happens in the first bit, and then not a lot happens afterward. The chapters are split between Hadi and Sama, both in the present and the past in their (very short) courtship and marriage. In spite of that, I never felt like I got a feel for Hadi at all.

The writing was very flowery and metaphorical and sometimes just had me shaking my head. Although I could empathize with their situation, the presumed ending (it was not completely tied up but pointed in a direction) was just impossible for me to accept. It seemed irrational.

Quote: "An honorary refugee, elevated on a podium. A podium for having left, survived Syria, when he was no different, better, or worse than the countless others who hadn't."

Our mask mandate is ending soon, and I just hope it's not too soon. I don't think they are needed outside, but inside it still seems a good idea.

>176 ursula: - That's too bad, as it sounds like an interesting premise.

>177 banjo123: Well we've had them required outside forever. It's nice to have that lifted - although if there's a place you might need them outside, it's Istanbul. The population density is a bit different than Oregon. :) Anyway, I'm not upset about it. I do wonder if they'll lift the requirement indoors and on public transit once the weather warms up.

>178 katiekrug: Yeah, I feel like it was a shame. I did like that the husband was allowed (somewhat) to be angry about his lot in life. Too often men from these countries aren't allowed to be portrayed as well, human, and susceptible to anger. At the same time though, we didn't learn enough about how his experiences were different from Sama's to really let it hit home.

Here’s what it looked like outside this morning: https://share.icloud.com/photos/07eUfhD-YBN9CylAQ_p7Q0u8w (click the lower thumbnail to play)

It’s been pretty steady all day.

The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

First line: "This year Amadeo Padilla is Jesus."

Picked this up on a whim from the front page of the Libby app. It's about a family in New Mexico. Amadeo is in his early 30s, with a 15-year-old pregnant daughter, Angel. He's unemployed and lives with his mother, Yolanda. Angel used to live with her mother, but she moved in with her dad and grandmother after having an incident with her mother's boyfriend.

The people in this novel are fully alive - everyone has complicated feelings about their lives, everyone makes mistakes, everyone is sometimes incredibly self-involved. Things don't wrap up neatly, but neither does anything in life. You do get the sense that these characters are continuing to learn and grow. I was really drawn in by the characters, even though they screwed up so many things I found myself frequently wanting to pick up the book and find out if they were making any progress, haha.

Quote: "Isn't that how things should be? That the man who'd lost a son and the boy who'd lost a father should find each other? Now the thought occurs to him, as though it was original, that there is no way things should be, only the way things are, and the way things are is going to keep changing."

>180 ursula: - Pretty!

>181 ursula: - I've not heard of this one but it sounds good.

>182 katiekrug: It was good. I realize I didn't say a whole lot about it, really, but there was enough going on in their lives that it's more satisfying to just sink into it.

My first abandoned book for the year:


Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison by Daniel Genis

Interesting premise, I thought. The author is the "apologetic bandit" who I guess briefly made news in New York for robbing people at knifepoint and apologizing to them. He is the son of Russian intellectuals, it wasn't really in his nature to be robbing people on the street, but he had a heroin addiction to feed. He ended up being sentenced to 10 years in prison.

During those 10 years, he read widely, both for his own sanity and also to learn more about prison. It's interesting to think about the idea of reading books set in prison to learn more about how it works, how people survive, etc. Anyway, in the book he talks about both what he reads and what he experiences in various prisons (he was transferred what seemed like a lot to me, but what do I know). The real-life prison parts can be brutal, because of course prison life can be as well. The reading is mostly just touched on, occasionally with a little blurb about something he learned from the book, or the reason he picked that one up.

That's fine, but the book felt disjointed - going backward and forward in time, arranged according to some logic I guess only he knows. Also, the writing was ... kind of like you might expect from someone who has read a lot but not spoken a lot. There were a lot of unnecessary words, and some misused words (that were unnecessary - just use a word you understand!). At 25% I realized I wasn't enjoying it and just decided to end it there.

Oh also!

Wordle 266 2/6

⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Usually two is sort of weird, but I felt like I really earned this one.

>184 ursula: - Pass.

>185 ursula: - Nice!

Funeral Rites by Jean Genet

First line: "The newspapers that appeared at the time of the Libration of Paris, in August 1944, give a fair idea of what those days of childish heroism, when the body was steaming with bravura and boldness, were really like."

When I started this, I remember saying to Morgan, "Oh, I'm reading an ode to buttholes." (That first line didn't prepare you for that statement, I realize.)

As it turns out, it's that, but besides that, it's a book about the narrator's dead lover, Jean. He was killed by the Germans in World War II. But it's really a jumping-off point for a kaleidoscope of transgressive musings on death, love, mourning, betrayal, and ... Nazis, I guess.

I don't know - the book is dense and took me a long time to get through. It didn't benefit from being put down for days at a time, and it got much easier to read once I was visiting with it every day. But even so, Genet puts himself in the place of various characters, jumps around between times, writes about things that never happened as vividly as about things that did. And on that note - the descriptions get pretty vivid. The sex is as ugly as the war and death, and the war and death are as ridiculous as the sex.

There was a moment where I asked myself, "Am I seriously reading about Hitler performing this sex act on a prisoner?" (The sex act is almost certainly not what you're thinking, and the answer to my question was "yes.") My feelings about the book varied according throughout the read, so I'm considering it an averaged out three stars.

Quote:
"The Resistance sprang up in the underbrush like a nervous prick in the hair around it.
All of France rose up like that prick."

>181 ursula: Hey Ursula, I read The Five Wounds too. Basically for the same reasons. Libby was advertising the book and the reading program. I'm glad I did. It was one I probably wouldn't have picked up on its own.

>188 mahsdad: Yeah, I have often seen the books they list there and they usually don't seem appealing, but this one did. It was definitely a good read.

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

First lines: "The child lies on the shore. All around him the beach is littered with the wreckage of the boat and the wreckage of its passengers: shards of decking, knapsacks cleaved and gutted, bodies frozen in unnatural contortion."

Winner of the Giller Prize.

One can only assume that everyone who reads those first lines is reminded of the photo of the Syrian child dead on a Mediterranean beach. Although this is probably the seed of the novel, in this case the child is older (I think 9?) and he wakes up on that beach. The book alternates between "Before" and "After" chapters - how Amir ended up on the boat, and his journey on it, and his time trying to elude the soldiers who are after him in the new land. In his efforts to elude capture, he is aided by a teenage girl who lives on the island.

I don't think the book breaks any new ground if you're aware of what goes on with these refugee boats, but it's well told. The "after" is mostly a pretty standard, if tame, chase as the girl tries to get Amir to safety (or at least the possibility of safety). But what the book is getting at isn't entirely clear until near the end.

I liked it, although something kept me from loving it - maybe just the simple style of the storytelling.

Quote: "When she was with her friends she was someone named Iman and when she haggled with the vendors at the market she was someone named Umm Amir and when she pleaded with the British man whose position seemed to entail passing judgment on whether she and her family were sufficiently destitute to be called refugees she was Mrs. Utu, and all of these people seemed to be entirely different and engaged in entirely different attempts at survival."

>190 ursula: - I've been eyeing that one. I liked his debut, American War.

Nice review.

>191 katiekrug: Thanks! I haven't read his first one. I think because every time I saw the cover come up, I thought it was non-fiction. (Ha.)

In other news, I've been listening to all of the Eurovision contestants, and I've come up with a personal ranking. I think the worst sin is being boring, and the second worst sin is being cynical.

I ranked them based on 1. are they fun? 2. are they interesting/related to the country in some way? and 3. would I want to listen to it again? A song doesn't have to have all 3, but at least one of them should be present. Lots of the 40 countries didn't meet even one of those criteria for me, but something had to go in the middle.

Starting from the bottom:

40. Switzerland Boys Do Cry - Marius Bear
I wanted to cry. Bored to tears.

39. Denmark The Show - Reddi
Wannabe Adele schlock with lyrics that seem to come from inspirational photos on Instagram.

38. United Kingdom SPACE MAN - Sam Ryder
Sigh. The best thing about this song is the (maybe) unintentional hilarity of the lyrics "I've searched around the universe/Been down some black holes"

37. Bulgaria Intention - Intelligent Music Project
Sounds like the Scorpions, not in a good way.

36. Montenegro Breathe - Vladana
I just literally have nothing to say about this. Yawn.

35. Germany Rockstars - Malik Harris
It's like Travis Barker produced a Machine Gun Kelly/Eminem track set to a lost Blink-182 track.

34. Latvia Eat Your Salad - Citi Zēni
Read the lyrics at your own risk. Try-hard.

33. Malta I Am What I Am - Emma Muscat
Apparently what she is, is extremely boring.

32. Greece Die Together - Amanda Tenfjord
Murder-suicide pact, maybe? Perhaps they died together of over-autotuning.

31. Ireland That's Rich - Brooke
Pro: at least you can remember what it sounded like 2 hours later
Con: you remember what it sounded like 2 hours later

We Wrote in Symbols edited by Selma Dabbagh

Subtitled "Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers", this is a collection of poems and short stories by Arab women from the far back in the pre-Islamic past all the way up to the present. It's not my normal fare, but how could I resist picking it up since it is definitely a unique perspective?

I truly don't know what to say about it - some stories and poems were funny, some sexy, some ... strange. A couple were all of those together. One was written by a slave girl who was executed after she recited it; a few are written by living writers under pseudonyms. There is straight love, lesbian love, premarital sex, extramarital sex.

One note: It's probably better if you don't have to return it to the library and can really take your time, opening it and flipping through and choosing something to read here and there.

Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan

First line: "The cover for Trout Fishing in America is a photograph taken late in the afternoon, a photograph of the Benjamin Franklin statue in San Francisco's Washington Square."

Of course, for some reason that is no longer the cover of the book. I guess the photo made the book look a lot more serious/boring than a childish fish drawing. Anyway, I read Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar in 2013. It's one of those books where I vividly remember the circumstances under which I read it. We were living in Belgium and my daughter was visiting; we were off on a several-day trip looping up to Amsterdam and then down through Cologne by train. I took it along because it was small and light, and seemed like it wouldn't be too taxing if I got interrupted a lot.

Anyway, I said that to say this - both of these books are ones that I found myself having to slow down in reading. Not because they're full of deep meaning - also not to say that it's meaningless - but because the short, whimsical chapters are easy to fly through without really absorbing them, and that would be a shame. Morgan also read this one, and he said he imagined reading it out loud to get himself to slow down and really enjoy it. Good technique! Brautigan uses trout fishing in America to talk about actual trout fishing, but he also uses it as the name of a person or people, and things get weirder from there. If you're a certain kind of person, you'll probably like this. If you're not, you'll hate it.

Quotes:
"The sun was like a huge fifty-cent piece that someone had poured kerosene on and then had lit with a match and said, "Here, hold this while I go get a newspaper," and put the coin in my hand, but never came back."

"I hope someday we'll have enough money to get those pictures developed. Sometimes I'll get curious about them, wondering if they will turn out all right. They are in suspension now like seeds in a package. I'll be older when they are developed and easier to please. Look there's the baby! Look there's Mushroom Springs! Look there's me!"

>190 ursula: Ah. that one is on the CBC Canada reads shortlist. I have to et to it soon.

Have a great Tuesday!

>197 figsfromthistle: It's a quick read, too. Thanks, it was a pretty productive day, which is good. Hope yours went well also!

>167 ursula: wow- and here we are only just getting used to having to wear them.

>194 ursula: looking forward to your next batch of song reviews!

>194 ursula: Very keen to see your Eurovision ratings, Ursula. Rarely a fest of great music but it is good fun!

>199 LovingLit: I've been wearing masks continuously for 2 years, everywhere. It's nice to be able to walk around on the street without them (although some people are definitely still wearing them). It's a bit tricky to remember to put them on to go into places though, since I'm used to it just always already being on!

I will definitely finish the ratings, I just got distracted by some things around here!

>200 PaulCranswick: It is definitely a lot of fun, and interesting to try to judge the songs since there are so many different possible criteria. But in the end, I'm pretty happy with where I placed them (not trying to predict who will win, I am just going for by my own pleasure!).

Well, it's the last day of March and I'm not going to finish another book, so let's take a look at the (sparse) statistics from my reading in the first quarter of this year.

   





So many new books! I usually don't read so many recently published books, but trying to choose books from the areas of the Asian Reading Challenge and only from the library's digital collections has meant they're all pretty new. You can ignore the average pages/day because that's calculated based on the whole year, so I guess just multiply that by 4 and you'll be closer to accurate - so 60.

I'm hoping to increase the number of books little by little over the year, but we'll see. There's always something coming up, including hopefully a C1 Turkish class in late May or June. Also, I'm doing another class right now but I'll talk more about that when I get a little farther into it.