Car usage at a societal level, drug dependency if you want to read more.

On the positive side: I really enjoyed how it switched at the end between the third person (that gave a feeling of impartiality) to a first person, basically admitting bias along the text.

On the critical side: to make it a bit relatable,the reader needs to understand why you would ride a behemoth, and here most of the writing is about the negatives, so it’s hard to take the warning seriously. The reader is brought to think “Nobody would be that stupid! We will just handle it better” - a slightly more nuanced approach would make it more insidious and believable as a threat I think. In particular the final with the crazied king is over the top…

Overall: well build, good rhythm and nice idea. I ho sempre enjoyed the read! Thanks!

I enjoyed the read, thanks! Are you interested in constructive criticism?

Reality is a lie! And 2020 is basically the future, Bug Calendar is lying to us!

I often start feeling so limited in my own world views and experiences! I had wanted to learn German for a while, after after years of learning it I can barely read young adult novels… Not to speak about Russian, where I got barely passed the alphabet…

I feel more keenly aware of this nowadays because I moved to a less internationally minded city, and it feels like the culture wall around me is a bit steeper than it used to be.

Outside of fantasy, actually very far from it: « Consider the lobster » is a collection of essays on mundane stuff, highlighting the weirdness of everyday (or not really everyday) life, such as fairs and cruises and porn.

I loved it, it’s very reflexive - that some people find hard to read, others relaxing. If you think it might be your style, it’s absolutely worth a read !

Another far fetched change I would like to see in our society: shorter work days. I don’t think there is any real reason why we settled on 8h work days, and with the growth of productivity I see no reason why we should stay there. A shorter work day (at same pay) would allow the worker to have more time to enjoy life - and the family they chose to create.

He is learning to speak, and the latest discovery is letting me know the process of bunping into stuff (a second ago, in front of me, usually without hurting himself). He comes to me, tells me “boom” pointing at where he fell, then “aua” with the saddest face, pointing at what he supposedly hurt. Sometimes it’s even the correct spot! He often then patiently waits for a kiss on it.

My kid started hating waking up from his daily nap. I still don’t understand why or how, but at least half of the times, he wakes up so mad! And there seems to be nothing to do. At times he gets more mad if you try to comfort him. Sometimes taking in a soothing voice helps, but not always. Often giving him his pajama pants helps -and that’s the only time in the day he requires them. I don’t know if it counts as tantrum, but i can’t classify it as anything else… we usually wait it out, can take up to 20 minutes of screeching.

1.5 years old he is understanding the concept of hot, so he is learning to blow on warm food, let me know if it’s too hot and communicate this: a hand over the head is the signal for “hot”. It gets used when he passes near the oven, when I am cooking and when we serve food.

At 1.5y, diversion has started to loose its power when having to stop playing or having to leave toys. Luckily I found out that “saying goodbye” is extremely effective. It gives the kid an understanding of what is happening (we are leaving) and a moment to process the loss. So now every time we go home from the playground we say goodbye, even if there are no other people around.

Finally got to read this short story yesterday. As good as always, thanks for the recommendation!

“Latest hack you figured out”

As a new parent, there have been countless little hacks shared with me that really helped my life. The first one: “sometimes babies just need to cry it out” (within reason). Helped me drop the parent guilt of hearing your baby cry and not being able to fix it right away.

Latest one: if you are excited, they will likely be as well. (Experiences of potty training)

Everything by Le Guin is pure gold! I will add this one to my reading list, but I lived “The Dispossessed “ as political science-fiction, while “the left hand of the darkness” explores gender and prejudices, and “earthsea” is a series of coming of age novels. Every is so good

Writing style.

I am down for any book, as long as the author can play with the language. It can be long winded as Wallace, or poignant like Vonnegut, or poetic and soft like Haruf, or dry and almost scientific like Asimov, or logic bending like Pratchett, but all these authors can use language like an instrument. This property doesn’t make a book easy to read, but makes it most definitely worth my while.

It is! I also find unsettling how human-like the cast looks, both with the eye and the position of the elbows…

I started Blood Meridian by McCarthy. It was a Christmas gift from an American friend. I had never heard about it before then, and I went into it more or less blind. It’s a much bleaker read than I was expecting, but the language is keeping me hooked: it has been a while since last time I had to check the meaning of an English word, and this me taught me plenty.

On the side, I’m reading a German young adult romance novel to learn better German. It’s a light read, to nicely compensate and lift my spirits a bit.

From an academic level, he stands aside, presenting himself as and taking pride in being a “poet maudit”, a cursed poet. So his themes are very peculiar. But he also has a really good classical education, thus he builds very balanced verses, while often playing with the musicality of words.

For me, very personally, it sounds so incredibly good while being almost over the top dark and tortured. I love the contrast that creates.

The poem I particularly like is the one he chose as introduction of his works. It’s alluring, while alluding to the future corruption. I imagine it to be the call of a new drug.

A problem with poetry is that it cannot be translated, so I’ll refer the originals:

• Correspondences by Baudelaire (what do you get if you mix many drugs in the French noble 1800s)
• The Road not taken by Frost (every choice has a consequence)
• Invictus by Henley (the power of the will and the soul)
• Non chiederci la parola by Montale (the impossibility of knowing)

As an Italian, I’m most definitely biased, but the Divine Comedy, and mostly the Inferno, are worth a read if you are willing to read the notes (all the historical references are near-impossible to understand otherwise). Some sections are romantic, some politic/religious/esoteric, some epic, a couple really fun. There is a bit for everyone. The Paradise becomes more serious, concentrating most on religion and politics, and I found it less exciting.