2, 6, and 14 for the book asks?
2. Top 5 books of all time?
1. The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa — Have you ever read something that so thoroughly and incisively evokes you that the only logical explanation is that you must be a reincarnation of the author? This is that for me.
2. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell — The only novel I've ever read that, at the start of each new section, had me flipping back to previous sections to unearth clues about what I was about to read. (I don't read mysteries, so this is the closest I get.) Also I am a sucker for anything that uses form as a narrative tool.
3. The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934, Anaïs Nin — Similar to The Book of Disquiet in that it's very personal and resonant, but in a less melancholy way. Grand and romantic but also humble and deeply-felt.
4. Biophilia, Edward O. Wilson — It is extremely rare in my experience to encounter a scientist whose writing fulfills the holy trinity that I aspire to: (1) intellectual rigor, (2) communicative clarity, and (3) literary skill. You almost never see #3 in a scientist. Chef's kiss.
5. Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz — I think I just owe this book a lot. I read it for the first time in 2013/14 after I finished high school on a whim, and now I'm in a PhD program studying dog behavior and human-animal interaction. Any time I think about umwelt (which is often), I have Horowitz to thank.
Many honorable mentions: Sleep Has His House, Anna Kavan; Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer; The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston; Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake... Many more that I'm forgetting.
6. What books have you read in the last month?
The Wanting Seed, Anthony Burgess — Interesting concept/world, didn't care for the execution/message. Symbolism was a little too heavy-handed. Fun enough to read though.
Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick — Good imagery, unique postmodern style, but not really my cup of tea. It was contemplative and at times surreal, which I tend to like, but I felt like it didn't have much to say.
14. Do you ever mark/dog ear books you own?
I'm kind of notorious about this. My books are all super marked up, but then I feel like my markups influence subsequent rereadings in ways I don't always appreciate. So I'm starting to use less invasive markup strategies: vertical lines along the sides of paragraphs (rather than underlining/highlighting), Google docs of notes (rather than notes in the margins), post-its, etc.
Thank you so much for sending these! I have lots of thoughts about books as, you can see ❣️
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