Your newsletter is the one I look forward to the most, especially for book recommendations I probably wouldn't find otherwise... Immediately got Satin Island out from my library (they don't have Remainder, rip). Thank you for your work, as always!! <3
thank you Maya!!! this is really kind, I appreciate it
also, some library systems (I know the San Francisco Public Library will do this!) let you request books from the librarians…maybe worth sending in a request for Remainder and seeing if you can get the book for FREE anyway
Thrilled to being having these monthly reads from you again after your hiatus! I am super intrigued by We Computers & It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over!
thank you Martha! would love your thoughts on We Computers…I found it a really fascinating and novel way to take on questions about AI authorship/the role of the artist, and it's a nice lesson on poetic forms too (specifically the ghazal)
"There is a book that I’ve read and reread maybe six or seven times—it’s only 101 pages long, but I can never remember the ending. The book is Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy, a novella first published in Italian in 1989 and translated into English in 1991. I find it almost impossible to believe that this book was written in the late 1980s, just as I find it almost impossible to believe that Cy Twombly really liked to shop at Walmart, although both are apparently true. Some people anchor themselves so effectively to another time, or a space outside of time; their work streaks across the floor of history like dusty light in the late afternoon, thickening the air above it."
no it is VERY related (and I have been thinking about trying to write about/discuss more art)
I was so enthralled by it! I thought it was really nicely curated and arranged—each room felt very thematically coherent and exciting, and just gave me a deep appreciation for all the different themes Marshall has worked with.
She was so much like her novels! Which was really amazing and gratifying to witness (as a devoted reader)…like very present in the moment, would think about questions that her interlocutor (Devorah Baum) posed, and then respond with a great deal of thoughtfulness and intensity.
Some quotes I wrote down from the conversation:
"Something I find very startling about contemporary novels is that people…are so emotionally articulate!" (re: fictional dialogue and what she wanted to do differently)
Devorah Baum asked, "What does kissing mean to you?" To which CLB answered: "That's a very good question…what IS kissing? Because it's a strange activity…" (Baum: "Yes, it's very peculiar") And then CLB continued: "When you close your eyes, and the back of your eyes open—do you ever feel that, while kissing? There's a metaphysical activity there, and you can [notice] it more than with sex, because there's more happening then"
On a scene in the book, where the protagonist takes issue with a man describing her feelings about something as "minor": "Who's to say how big our feelings are?"
On aging: "There's a perception that people give up, or wind down…but life doesn't end until it ends…the idea that you might fall completely in love again in your 70s…that makes life feel exciting."
Oh wow. I am so glad I asked. Thank you for sharing your notes! She does sounds just like her novels. Not afraid to GO THERE and also not going out of her way to make herself palatable. Take it or leave it. I am really looking forward to more interviews with her as she does the publicity tour for the book. I just got my copy of BOOKFORUM in the mail today and plan to read the Jane Hu review of Big kiss, bye-bye over lunch.
it's really great! the writing style is gorgeous and it contains a lot of interesting philosophical/moral questions around being undead (but doesn't overdo the metaphysics imo, it's mostly a story about everyday experience and feeling nostalgic/sad)
The plan is in early December I will go around telling people I'm doing Schattenfroh for Christmas, without explaining that it's a book. Hopefully it will make them jealous and give them all a bit of FOMO, but not so much that they google Schattenfroh and discover it's just a book.
I purchased a copy of Cultured this summer in hopes of finding new print media because it featured Katie Kitamura and her lipgloss but now I’m there for whatever they have to offer
I finished It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over today - not many books make me cry! Heart wrenching and eloquent meditation on mortality and a love letter to grief. I loved the epigraphs!
Your newsletter is the one I look forward to the most, especially for book recommendations I probably wouldn't find otherwise... Immediately got Satin Island out from my library (they don't have Remainder, rip). Thank you for your work, as always!! <3
thank you Maya!!! this is really kind, I appreciate it
also, some library systems (I know the San Francisco Public Library will do this!) let you request books from the librarians…maybe worth sending in a request for Remainder and seeing if you can get the book for FREE anyway
Thrilled to being having these monthly reads from you again after your hiatus! I am super intrigued by We Computers & It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over!
thank you Martha! would love your thoughts on We Computers…I found it a really fascinating and novel way to take on questions about AI authorship/the role of the artist, and it's a nice lesson on poetic forms too (specifically the ghazal)
Audrey’s review was so good … Had me at “Joyce-fully”
yes, isn't it great? she's a wonderful critic; I really like her review of Fleur Jaeggy's novels from a few years ago https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/12/08/the-circuitous-sublime-sweet-days-of-discipline-jaeggy/
"There is a book that I’ve read and reread maybe six or seven times—it’s only 101 pages long, but I can never remember the ending. The book is Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy, a novella first published in Italian in 1989 and translated into English in 1991. I find it almost impossible to believe that this book was written in the late 1980s, just as I find it almost impossible to believe that Cy Twombly really liked to shop at Walmart, although both are apparently true. Some people anchor themselves so effectively to another time, or a space outside of time; their work streaks across the floor of history like dusty light in the late afternoon, thickening the air above it."
Oh wow!
Remainder seems super interesting! I find books and writers here that I've never heard of before. Always great to see a post from you in my inbox.
thank you Adhithya! if you read it, please let me know—it's honestly so fascinating and I really understand Zadie Smith's high praise of the novel!
Potentially unrelated but wasn’t the Kerry James Marshall exhibition amazinggggggggggggggg?
no it is VERY related (and I have been thinking about trying to write about/discuss more art)
I was so enthralled by it! I thought it was really nicely curated and arranged—each room felt very thematically coherent and exciting, and just gave me a deep appreciation for all the different themes Marshall has worked with.
I really struggled to pick which paintings to write about here, because there were so many amazing ones…I loved the room with the 4 Souvenir works and it was so charming to see how obsessed Marshall is with putting GOLD GLITTER everywhere https://figuringhistory.site.seattleartmuseum.org/kerry-james-marshall/souvenir-i/
Appreciate the link, Celine. I almost picked up Pond when I visited the LRB bookshop this past spring, I’ll have to give it another look!
I recommend it unreservedly (CLB has a very phenomenologically rich and sensitive writing style…it's really so distinctive)
I am so glad you loved the new CLB book! It is incredible to watch her move direction without abandoning what came before it. How was she in person???
She was so much like her novels! Which was really amazing and gratifying to witness (as a devoted reader)…like very present in the moment, would think about questions that her interlocutor (Devorah Baum) posed, and then respond with a great deal of thoughtfulness and intensity.
Some quotes I wrote down from the conversation:
"Something I find very startling about contemporary novels is that people…are so emotionally articulate!" (re: fictional dialogue and what she wanted to do differently)
Devorah Baum asked, "What does kissing mean to you?" To which CLB answered: "That's a very good question…what IS kissing? Because it's a strange activity…" (Baum: "Yes, it's very peculiar") And then CLB continued: "When you close your eyes, and the back of your eyes open—do you ever feel that, while kissing? There's a metaphysical activity there, and you can [notice] it more than with sex, because there's more happening then"
On a scene in the book, where the protagonist takes issue with a man describing her feelings about something as "minor": "Who's to say how big our feelings are?"
On aging: "There's a perception that people give up, or wind down…but life doesn't end until it ends…the idea that you might fall completely in love again in your 70s…that makes life feel exciting."
Oh wow. I am so glad I asked. Thank you for sharing your notes! She does sounds just like her novels. Not afraid to GO THERE and also not going out of her way to make herself palatable. Take it or leave it. I am really looking forward to more interviews with her as she does the publicity tour for the book. I just got my copy of BOOKFORUM in the mail today and plan to read the Jane Hu review of Big kiss, bye-bye over lunch.
Everything you write is magic, Celine!! This was such a wonderful read.
thank you!!! always appreciate you reading, and hope you're having a lovely October!
It Last Forever and Then It's Over sounds INCREDIBLE!!! I'm ordering it right now!
it's really great! the writing style is gorgeous and it contains a lot of interesting philosophical/moral questions around being undead (but doesn't overdo the metaphysics imo, it's mostly a story about everyday experience and feeling nostalgic/sad)
The plan is in early December I will go around telling people I'm doing Schattenfroh for Christmas, without explaining that it's a book. Hopefully it will make them jealous and give them all a bit of FOMO, but not so much that they google Schattenfroh and discover it's just a book.
I love this strategy and will steal it…"what are your holiday plans?" "Schattenfroh from Christmas to new year's!"
I purchased a copy of Cultured this summer in hopes of finding new print media because it featured Katie Kitamura and her lipgloss but now I’m there for whatever they have to offer
my new favorite online subscription tbh (along with the wonderful New York Review of Architecture!)
But what is “ The original MFA discourse book?”
oh! it's the essay collection MFA vs NYC (published by n+1; I think it came out of this essay first https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-10/the-intellectual-situation/mfa-vs-nyc/) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18248379-mfa-vs-nyc
Remainder may be my favorite novel of the 21st century. Weirdly prescient (if just for Nathan Fielder’s “The Rehearsal” series, to start...).
I love these recommendations and I wanted to know how you stay updated on new book releases and where you find recommendations?
I finished It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over today - not many books make me cry! Heart wrenching and eloquent meditation on mortality and a love letter to grief. I loved the epigraphs!
One of my favourite newsletters! I always look forward to these