Reading Wednesday

[troisoiseaux]

Finished One Man's Meat by E.B. White, a collection of essays from 1938-1943 that I had originally been drawn to by the humorous tone of the one I encountered in the wild (on spending so much time thinking about all the things you need to do today that suddenly it's 4 pm and you haven't done any of them— a mood!) and turned out to have more heft than I'd expected, emotionally - or philosophically? - speaking. (The period it covers, which I didn't know at that first encounter, would be a clue.) Maybe "heft" isn't quite the right word, either: even at its most serious— which is probably the essay tearing Anne Lindbergh's The Wave of the Future to shreds over her stance of "totalitarianism: just lie down and take it"— his writing has this mix of firm conviction and general bemusement that's like... charming in the way that Columbo is charming...? I don't know; it's a good book and I'm glad I read it.

Read Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli, which is what it says on the tin.

Read River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta, a fast-paced urban fantasy rooted in Jamaican folklore and set in Toronto.

Read The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan, about an angsty millennial couple in Dublin heading towards their ill-advised wedding day. I tried reading this when it came out last year but found the lightly ironic tone too grating to get far— I guess I just had to be (and finally was) in the right mood for it?

Comments

[sovay]

the essay tearing Anne Lindbergh's The Wave of the Future to shreds over her stance of "totalitarianism: just lie down and take it"

Good for him.

I like the idea of classing E.B. White with Columbo.

[troisoiseaux]

I like the idea of classing E.B. White with Columbo.

It sounds absurd, but the vibes are there!

[chestnut_pod]

I have River Mumma somewhere on the TBR and am excited to get around to it.

[troisoiseaux]

It's a fun read!

[osprey_archer]

I am only familiar with Columbo from gifs on tumblr, and yet when you compare E. B. White to Columbo I know exactly what you mean and it fits perfectly.

[troisoiseaux]

Right?? It's the way he kind of sidles up to his point in a chatty, often self-effacing way— I'm thinking especially of the essay where he talks about wandering around a trailer/RV park asking people what they think about a, like, proto-United Nations(?) as a way of writing an essay about the concept of a proto-United Nations.

(...I am also more familiar with Columbo via tumblr osmosis than having actually seen the show, but hey, the analogy holds up!)

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I loved that essay. The way that he starts to feel that the fate of this proto-United Nations hangs on whether the random strangers he's asking think it's a good idea is so real.

Someday I should watch an actual Columbo episode!