Hello, reader…
*Note to first time readers: the following is a summary of a discussion by friends and bookworms who gather monthly in a virtual space called Second Life. Book notes are lightly edited reflections shared in real time via text chat.
We received a haiku in our poetry mailbox, entitled, hyperreal mystikal:
Philosophers speak,
Baudrillard and McLuhan,
Truth in jest’s mystique.
Author: Chemikal Tripp
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
FireWoman read this censored classic that someone shared with her awhile back. The pages were like photocopies of a yellos-paged paperback, so she started looking into getting a copy. It turns out that there was a miraculous find about the book and how the missing pages were discovered. Sinclair censored his own writing so that the book would get published.
Sinclair’s novel starts out as a delightful read covering Lithuanians coming to America – then goes on to expose the horrid conditions of the meat industry in Chicago. The impact of this book helped change the laws on labor and health safety in slaughter houses.
Burn Book by Kara Swisher
Sierra has been reading this book that is mostly related to her reporting on the world of tech for the last couple of decades. It’s a fun read! Swisher is definitely opinionated in the book as she talks about her interactions with different founders over the years. Secondarily, it is somewhat autobiographical since it is very much written from her career perspective.
No Land in Sight and Scribbled in the Dark by Charles Simic
Sierra also picked up a couple of Charles Simic books. He’s a poet from the former Yugoslavia. She said that his poetry is often humorous, whimsical, but also having a certain edge to it…bit dark at times. She liked these collections but commented that her favorite collection of his poems is The World Doesn’t End. She thinks he does for poetry what Dali did for painting.
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad – Austin Kleon
Veyot read this in two days, then read it backwards in one day. She enjoyed it in both directions. She called it a cheerful self-help book.
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
Veyot advises potential readers of this book to not read reviews! It will spoil your fun.
A Sotheby’s art historian and her boyfriend (a New York doctor) are planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands when the Covid epidemic hits. There is a wonderful plot twist in the middle of the book. Also, a great art history story about the provenance of a Henri Toulouse-LauTrec artwork.
Remember – do not read reviews of this book before you read it because you get too much information and that would spoil your fun! Veyot said it was the best book she’s read this year so far.
Our next gathering is June 9 at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!
The Reading Room 