vel veeter – Page 398 – Cannonball Read 17

I have had enough of this kind of logic. I am tired and I don’t want to play this game anymore.

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

February 1, 2017 by vel veeter 2 Comments

Apparently there is no longer a German-language text for this novel. There’s something interesting about an anti-Communist German language book published in 1941 that doesn’t make you cringe at what it must contain. But there have been a lot of really good anti-Communist texts, along with some good pro-Communist texts. This book is part of the faction of books written by former party insiders. Calling them disillusioned seems a little weak tea, because they are often reacting to deep fissures, the deaths of many thousands, […]

Float like a Butterfly, knit like a Biddy

When I was the Greatest by Jason reynolds

February 1, 2017 by vel veeter 1 Comment

There’s a really good scene in the middle of this novel where two friends (both 15 year old boys) are going into a Brooklyn yarn shop that’s populated by a 20 something white hipster behind the counter, several older women, and inexplicably placed huge guy. The boys are going ostensibly to buy black yarn to give to one of the boys’ brother, who is living with Tourette’s and has recently learned to use knitting as a coping strategy. The boys are buying black yarn because, […]

Well that was unexpected….

Tranquil Star by Primo Levi

January 29, 2017 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

I know Primo Levi primarily from his personal narratives. He is an Auschwitz survivor, and many of his most famous writings relate his various experiences during that time. Some of his other writings discuss his work as a chemist or his brief stint in the Italian army before the war. This collection of short stories began in a similar vein. The very first story is about a captured Italian partisan who has the opportunity to set of a opportunistically positioned German grenade. As I was […]

A few words about St. Angelicus

The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald

January 28, 2017 by vel veeter 4 Comments

Sigh. I should just come clean and explain myself here. It’s the end of the month, and I wanted to polish off a few more reviews before the close. Also, I have a few deadlines with work and I am writing about the least Mad Max book I have ever read while watching Mad Max with the dog. I wanted to like this book because of the four novels by Penelope Fitzgerald, I liked one of them a decent amount. I have two more to […]

Hers must have been the last generation to fall in love without hope in such an unproductive way…

Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald

January 28, 2017 by vel veeter 2 Comments

Penelope Fitzgerald is the most British name ever, and in ways, she’s the most British writer ever. She started publishing when she was about 60 and then went on to publish 9 novels after that. She won the Booker Prize in 1978 for her novel Offshore, which is mostly just ok. I read her novel, The Bookshop, about a woman opening up a bookshop in a small coastal town in 1959. The owner then overruns the town with copies of Lolita. It’s great. This novel is just ok. This […]

Meanwhile, back at the bordello…

The Ballad of Dingus Magee by David Markson

January 27, 2017 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

So I read this book because of a Simpsons joke. Basically, this one: “Welly-welly-welly. Mr. Clean wants to hang with Dirty Dingus McGee” And it turns it out it’s a reference to a Frank Sinatra movie from the 1970s, which is based on a book from the 1960s, which is written by a post-modern(ish) writer I have heard of, which turns out the library had a copy of. So here I am. This novel is written as a kind of love ballad to Westerns. The […]

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Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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