What Did You Read in 2023?

[nrh]

Everything? Favorites?

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Various philosophy, mostly journal articles, some classics, of which Plato's Parmenides was the highlight and new discovery. I got to interview a big prof (hopefully my future thesis supervisor) about his latest book, which I read.

Probably the most notable read for these parts was Gershom Scholem's Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship, which I just read this winter break and it has started me on a mini-Frankfurt School kick again. Delightful window into the lives of intellectuals at work.

[flip]

reread a lot of donald barthelme, among other things

i think i might starting reading seriously again in 2024

[nrh]

feel like this was a year where i read a reasonable amount, but not seriously at all, just bouncing from one thing to another, some interesting curiosities but nothing revelatory. not sure i'd recognize something revelatory if i read it.

maybe piglia's artificial respiration, catling's hollow, and gifford's port tropique were the closest to great. paul park's dungeons & dragons novel the rose of sarifal and james sallis not quite detective novel the long-legged fly the most curious of the curiosities.

enjoyed revisiting treasure island for the first time in decades.

excited for 2024 though, one of the nice things about hoarding books is knowing you have lovely things lined up to read...

Spoiler!

the rider on the white horse, theodor storm
moderan, david r. bunch
the etched city, kj bishop
snow, john banville
hollow, b. catling
the jaguar hunters, lucius sheperd
it never ends, tom scharpling
the baum plan for financial independence, john kessel
snow white, blood red, ed by terry windling & ellen datlow
ruby slippers, golden tears, ed by terry windling & ellen datlow
journeys: a poet's diary, ak ramanujuan
guns & thighs, ram gopal varma
the dandy at dusk, philip mann
fassbinder thousands of mirrors, ian penman
the dead girls, jorge ibargüengoitia
majipoor chronicles, robert silverberg
memory, donald westlake
the adventures & misadventures of amqroll, alvaro mutis
port tropique, barry gifford
milongas, edgardo cozarinsky
rose of sarifal, paul park (writing as paulina claiborne)
three hearts & three lions, poul anderson
an irish eye, john hawkes
the cutie, donald westlake
the whispering mountain, joan aiken
conjure wife, fritz leiber
our lady of darkness, fritz leiber
the ceremonies, t.e.d. klein
go back at once, robert aickman
kane of old mars, michael moorcock
landscape with traveler, barry gifford
treacle walker, alan garner
my death, lisa tuttle
the black tulip, alexandre dumas
the abyss, jeyamohan
chrstie malry's own double entry, b.s. johnson
skeletons in the closet, jean patrick manchette
the long-legged fly, james sallis
nightmare in the street, derek raymond
goopy gyne bagha byne & other stories, upendrakishore roychodhury
nocturnes for the king of naples, edmund white
francis goes to the seashore, barry gifford
treasure island, robert louis stevenson
the queen's necklace, antal szerb
psychology of the rich aunt, erich muhsam
the famous magician, cesar aira
the perfidious parrot, janwillem de wettering
twice lost, phyllis paul
artificial respirataion, ricardo piglia

[Roscoe]

Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
Silk Stocking Murders - Berkeley (unfinished because it was too painfully obvious who did it)
Ratner's Star - DeLillo (unfinished but I got further than on other attempts)
Hangover Square - Hamilton
Dictionary Of The Khazars - Pavic
The Dain Curse - Hammett
The Pickwick Papers - Dickens
The Odyssey - Homer
Ulysses - Joyce
Hard Times - Dickens
A Perfect Spy - le Carre
Killers Of The Flower Moon - Grann