|
1 | 1 | [ |
| 2 | + { |
| 3 | + "title": "I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness", |
| 4 | + "author": "Irene Solà", |
| 5 | + "isbn": 9781644453438, |
| 6 | + "started": "2025-11-09", |
| 7 | + "finished": "2025-11-15", |
| 8 | + "publisher": "Graywolf Press", |
| 9 | + "pages": 162, |
| 10 | + "situ": "/img/books/2025/i-gave-you-eyes-and-you-looked-toward-darkness.png", |
| 11 | + "review": "<p>I read Solà’s <a href=\"https://cyberb.space/shelf/irene-sola/when-i-sing-mountains-dance/\">previous novel</a> earlier this year and was awed by it. I subsequently bought her latest novel almost in a fugue state, certain that it would be artful and sharp.</p><p>This one had a dark, earthy texture. A continuation, but somehow also a departure from the earlier themes and preoccupations of <em>mountains</em>.</p><p>She’s more controlled here. Her narrative forms and characters feel more sustained and focused than the phantasmagoria of the earlier work. Worth checking out, but definitely darker and less exuberant than the prose I fell in love with earlier this year.</p>", |
| 12 | + "link": "https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/i-gave-you-eyes-and-you-looked-toward-darkness" |
| 13 | + }, |
| 14 | + { |
| 15 | + "title": "Gilgamesh", |
| 16 | + "author": "David Ferry", |
| 17 | + "isbn": 9780374523831, |
| 18 | + "started": "2025-10-31", |
| 19 | + "finished": "2025-11-07", |
| 20 | + "publisher": "FSG", |
| 21 | + "pages": 99, |
| 22 | + "situ": "/img/books/2025/gilgamesh.png", |
| 23 | + "review": "<p>I read a more literal translation of this book <a href=\"https://cyberb.space/shelf/anonymous/the-epic-of-gilgamesh/\">over a decade ago</a>. The little bit I remember is that it was quite dry and I spent most of my time parsing academic footnotes.</p><p>The full title of this edition is “Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse.” David Ferry, who doesn’t read cuneiform or speak Sumerian or Babylonian, has a pretty straightforward goal with his rendering: based one what we know about the epic and its history, make the most accessible version of this poem for contemporary English readers. As a result, it’s not a translation so much as it is an adaptation. This book is to the original epic what “<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27s_the_Man?wprov=sfti1\">She’s the Man</a>” is to Shakespeare’s “<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night?wprov=sfti1#\">Twelfth Night</a>.”</p><p>Does Ferry succeed? I think he does, for the most part. I certainly felt more affected by this story. The characters felt more alive. The images felt more vivid. In particular, the section where Gilgamesh follows the path of the sun in the dark tunnels under the mountain was very well done.</p>", |
| 24 | + "link": "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7424322M/Gilgamesh" |
| 25 | + }, |
| 26 | + { |
| 27 | + "title": "The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution", |
| 28 | + "author": "Alexis de Tocqueville", |
| 29 | + "isbn": 9780141441641, |
| 30 | + "started": "2025-08-13", |
| 31 | + "finished": "2025-10-30", |
| 32 | + "publisher": "Penguin Classics", |
| 33 | + "pages": 307, |
| 34 | + "situ": "/img/books/2025/the-ancien-régime-and-the-french-revolution.png", |
| 35 | + "review": "<p>I was very interested in this history for a few reasons.</p><p>First, de Tocqueville is writing about the French Revolution in the aftermath of the 1848 Revolution and was serving in the 2<sup>ème</sup> République as it lapsed into empire — actions for which he was subsequently jailed. No matter how objective you try to be, experiences like this are bound to color your view of history. He’s also writing about the Revolution with no knowledge of the subsequent restoration of democracy in France. This book came out 14 years before the 3<sup>ème</sup> République would appear. (France is currently on its 5th Republic for those keeping score.)</p><p>Second, I wanted a better understanding of how this change was understood in the more immediate aftermath of the Revolution. De Tocqueville wasn’t alive during 1789, but he and his contemporaries lived in the long shadow of its consequences.</p><p>This context in mind, it turned out to be an instructive and rewarding read! He goes to great pains to demonstrate that characteristics of French government and administrative structure that are often credited to the Revolution were in fact established under the Ancien Régime; administrative centralization being a key example. Perhaps most eye opening was his (fairly convincing) argument that the Revolution was triggered not because the regime of Louis XVI was the most oppressive, but rather because its poorly executed reforms served to throw the injustice of the existing system into sharper relief.</p><p>De Tocqueville was a liberal, in the 19th c. sense, and the bias inherent in that framing shows up quite often in his characterizations and conclusions. However, it’s hard to hold that against him when he hits you with great aphoristic lines like:</p><blockquote><p>Men who value only those material advantages from freedom have never kept it long.</p></blockquote><p>As with much history from before the 20th c., sources and citations are not rigorous. At times he writes phrases like “I have held a secret document in my hand that stated…” and it’s hard not to arch an eyebrow. There are also some curious artifacts of the context in which it was written. For example, he refers to Napoleon Bonaparte several times, but never by name. Only using monikers like “the despot.” A rhetorical tic evokes parallels to some contemporary posting habits in the U.S.</p><p>As he nears the end of his argument you start to get a real sense of his bitterness at the failures of 1848 and his cynicism about France’s ability to govern itself democratically. I hadn’t planned to, but this final turn does make me interested in picking up a copy of his <a href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37892/37892-h/37892-h.htm\">Souvenirs</a> of 1848.</p>", |
| 36 | + "link": "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25953921M/The_Ancien_Rgime_And_The_French_Revolution" |
| 37 | + }, |
| 38 | + { |
| 39 | + "title": "Dancing in Odessa", |
| 40 | + "author": "Ilya Kaminsky", |
| 41 | + "isbn": 9780571369188, |
| 42 | + "started": "2025-10-23", |
| 43 | + "finished": "2025-10-25", |
| 44 | + "publisher": "Faber & Faber", |
| 45 | + "pages": 63, |
| 46 | + "situ": "/img/books/2025/dancing-in-odessa.png", |
| 47 | + "review": "<p>Earlier this year I was lucky enough to read Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic. Naturally, I snagged this slim collection when I stumbled across it in an English bookstore in Mumbai.</p><p>He’s a much younger poet when writing these poems, and it shows to a degree. However, it is still a cut above most contemporary poetry being written today. It’s full of explicit nods to his influences and aspirations. The ecstasy and anxiety of the young poet is comforting, knowing what comes next. There’s a fantastic stanza early on that captures this well:</p><blockquote><p>But on certain afternoons<br>the Republic of Psalms opens up<br>and I grow frightened that I haven’t lived, died, not enough<br>to scratch this ecstasy into vowels, hear<br>splashes of clear, biblical speech.</p></blockquote></p><p>Lines like these are why Kaminsky is one of the most interesting modern poets, as far as I’m concerned.</p><p>This edition also includes several fun Easter eggs in the acknowledgements. Kaveh Akbar’s current agent, Jacqueline Ko, is mentioned as an early believer in his work. A pre-Nobel prize “Lousie” Glück is also thanked for feedback on the collection prior to publishing.</p>", |
| 48 | + "link": "https://openlibrary.org/books/OL33925011M/Dancing_in_Odessa" |
| 49 | + }, |
2 | 50 | { |
3 | 51 | "title": "Selected Poems", |
4 | 52 | "author": "Herman Melville", |
|
0 commit comments