What Am I Reading Wednesday - August 10

자동차saya adaパンク <-- actual sentence that came out of my mouth today. And leaving you with that to chew on, here is:

What I Just Finished Reading

Younger – Suzanne Munshower
The final third relied too heavily on several “And so, Mr Bond, that's why I...” expository speeches, only delivered here by allies of the protagonist. The plot also hinges on a level of naivety among certain characters that stretches belief. Having said that, this was still a really well-written book that included a lot of incisive social commentary along with the entertainment, without bashing readers about the head with the former. I'm glad I read it and recommend it to anyone looking for a good action/mystery yarn.


What I Am Currently Reading

In the Darkroom – Susan Faludi
Faludi is a good writer. Whether it be holocaust trauma, the definition of gender, or the (im?)mutability of identity, her writing is a sparely worded gut punch. I'm torn between wanting to tear through it because it's so good, and needing to put it down to mull over individual sentences.

The Tarot – Robert M. Place
Farther in, the faults are beginning to show. It's not that I disagree with Place's assertions; rather, he makes them in logically faulty ways. For instance, his statement that Tarot cards could not have originated in ancient Egypt (as claimed by 18th- and 19th-century occultists) because paper didn't exist in ancient Egypt is like saying that I'm listening to The Beatles mp3s while I type this, but mp3s didn't exist in the '60s, so neither could have The Beatles. I'm hoping we'll be back on firmer ground as we move into discussions of the antecedents to Tarot symbolism.

Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar – James Sneddon, K. Alexander Adelaar, Dwi Djenar
This week's passages focused on the many classifiers and quantifiers in Indonesian, and how they pair with nouns and numerals.

Cut the Clutter – Cynthia Townley Ewer
This week's sections dealt with schedules and kitchen organization. While they sound nice in theory, I think they would be difficult to put into practice by anyone whose schedule doesn't involve multiple (sometimes conflicting) moving parts, or whose kitchen isn't grand enough to be featured in a high-end interior design magazine. I hope the upcoming chapters on clothing and home maintenance are more practicable.

沈黙入門 - 小池 龍之介 (Chinmoku Nyumon – Koike Ryunosuke)
Koike is the first (at least within my readings) to lay out a progression of increasingly sophisticated zazen techniques, vice “count your breaths and focus on air entering your nostrils” instructions. It will be interesting to try them out.

What I'm Reading Next

At the time of writing, I am not sure what I feel like reading next.

これで以上です。