Brief but stunning. Has sat on my book backlog pile since 2019. Finally started it today and now all 176 pages are read.
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Finished “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.” A worthwhile read, if rather long. Two meandering lives, struggling with the cultural intersection and conflicts between and within India (and family there) and the West (mostly U.S.).
Now reading some Peter Lovesey, while deciding on my next major undertaking. Choosing among (all re-reads) “Tom Jones,” “JR”, and “Infinite Jest.”
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Just finished the unabridged audiobook of Living and Dying with Marcel Proust by Christopher Prendergast. He’s an expert on the author, but this book is pitched for the general reader rather than academics. It is touching, entertaining and funny by turns. I’ve started to read the ‘new’ 2002 Penguin translation, so this was a warm-up.
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I am finding this book interesting……..
Cybernetics or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (in Second Edition - 1961, first in 1948) by Norbert Wiener.
Both editions are Copyright the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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I read his “The Human Use of Human Beings” when I was writing my honors thesis on Pynchon.
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Thanks for recommending this - I borrowed a copy from our local library, halfway through and really enjoying it .
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Finished Kit Fan’s Diamond Hill last night and have to confess it was not to my liking.
Started Le Carre’s Call For The Dead today and finding it very enjoyable so far.
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Although I enjoy crime/spy novels I put the book on to the Kindle mainly because it was free. But what a pleasant surprise.
Hildur is the only detective in an isolated part of Iceland. She is young healthy and energetic. Her male partner knits jumpers. I detected not a note of middle aged,male misery.
Ms Ramo conjures up the wildness of Hildur’s situation well and tells much about Iclandic social life.
I will read the other two in the series.
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Just finished The Wager. Ripping story about life in the Navy back in 1740’s. The trials and tribulations that the men went through are astonishing.
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Thomas Pynchon - Shadow Ticket
(In german: Schatten Nummer)
Didnt know Pynchon could make me laugh.
Recommended.
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I re-read “Mason & Dixon” recently. The mechanical duck, in particular, (and based on an actual invention) is hysterical.
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Hi jegreenwood,
Thanks for your response. I have just finished the ‘Cybernetics or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine’ book. Insightful thoughts expressed (in 1948) considering technical knowledge at the time.
PS: Following your post I took a look at the synopsis of the book ‘The Human Use of Human Beings’. I may ask the friend who loaned me ‘Cybernetics…’ if they have that book.
PPS: I hope you got your honours qualification in ‘?’ (on Thomas Pynchon).
Got a magna cum laude for it. I was an English major.
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Congratulations!
PS: English was not a topic at which I excelled.
Wow. Wasn’t aware there was a adaptation. Thanks!
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Just started “Tom Jones.” I last read it 50 years ago, in college, and I recall enjoying it immensely.
I’m also a fan of the movie, which I think is a remarkable condensation of a 900 page book that rarely, if ever, compromises the quality of the original.
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So is the BBC radio play, first tale in The Complete Smiley (with Simon Russel Beale). Excellent audiobook.
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Available on Spotify to buy.