BOOKS I READ IN 2026
#1 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
One of the most moving and memorable memoirs I've read. Highly evocative language, and informed empathetic thinking about our relationship with nature/other animals.
#9 “The Blind Assassin” by Margaret Atwood
I remembered the book as snide, but now see it’s Iris who’s snide. Very much enjoyed. Laura and Richard too thinly drawn. Would like to have heard more about where the blind assassin himself ends up.
BOOKS I READ IN 2026
#1 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
One of the most moving and memorable memoirs I've read. Highly evocative language, and informed empathetic thinking about our relationship with nature/other animals.
#8 “Book of Lives” by Margaret Atwood
Very enjoyable memoir, spending lots of time on the early years, going faster and lighter in later years (until Graeme Gibson’s decline and death, movingly depicted). Made me want to read each of the books/poems/essays she mentions.
"Materialism" can be interpreted broadly. But perhaps "economic insecurity" is more apt? Even rich people feel insecure, which is usually why they want more
Culture is not an eternal, unchanging pristine state that can only look like pre-colonial times. If a food is traditionally eaten by a group of people, it's part of their culture, no matter where it came from.
Don’t mean to be pedantic or anything but Pap is not part of our culture. Maize meal is a colonial imposition. Anywho, what are your thoughts on Sorghum, Pearl Millet, Bambara, Fonio and other African grains?
#9 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read for its 100th anniversary. I didn't remember how lyrical the language of this novel is, and I enjoyed every sentence. There's a big hole, though, in imagining the life of Gatsby before the story starts.
BOOKS I READ IN 2025
#1 "The Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert
Not sure how much of the surrounding circumstances are based in fact, but the fictional story at the centre was quite pleasuable. Rolled my eyes at the sex scene.
#8 How to be a Bad Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes
If he defined what bad birdwatching is, I missed it. But there are a lot of enjoyable descriptions of the deep and memorable experiences that make it desirable.
Orson Welles made Citizen Kane at 26 years old
PTA made Boogie Nights at 26
Kubrick made Paths of Glory at 26
Ryan Coogler made Fruitvale Station at 26
Chantal Akerman made Jeanne Dielman at 24
Jean-Luc Godard made Breathless at 29