Status Updates From Waterland

3.5 stars

While I'm sure that someone somewhere gets something from this book, it reads like a bloated, self-important, chore of a book. It is so pointless that I find myself skimming through chapters rather than doing a proper read because I simply cannot care enough for the authors offerings to determine what the hell his point is.

This book is quite strange. It is slow-paced and flows evenly between the past, the present, and the lore between both. Weird but insightful so far.

I've been given this book as a birthday gift from a relative. I have attempted to read this book several times but always gave it up since I wasn't in the mood for it. Hopefully I'll be able to completely finish this book and see what this book is actually about.

Vai tad iemeslu meklēšana pati par sevi neizbēgami nav vēsturisks process, jo tai allaž jāiet atpakaļgaitā no tā, kas nācis pēc tam, uz to, kas bijis pirms tam? Un, kamēr vien mūs urda ziņkāre, vai tad nav allaž jāstaipa līdzi neērtā, bet vērtīgā pavedienu soma, ko sauc par Vēsturi? Vēl viena definīcija: "Cilvēks ir dzīvnieks, kas pieprasa paskaidrojumu, dzīvnieks, kas jautā "Kāpēc?"."

I'm abandoning this for now - can't focus. Too pedantic for my mood. Perhaps I'll finish in four years after our next president is elected.

i hate uni

"Merak aşk doğurur. Bizi dünyayla dünya evine sokar. İkamet ettiğimiz bu imkansız gezegene duyduğumuz sapkın, delişmen sevginin bir bölümünü oluşturur. Merak bitince ölür insanlar."

"İnsan açıklama talep eden hayvandır, neden diye soran hayvan."

"Çocuklar, sadece hayvanlar tümüyle Burada ve Şimdi yaşarlar. Belleği de, tarihi de tanımayan tek şey doğadır. Ama insan, hikaye anlatan bir hayvandır."

Totally not my cup of tea :(

arkadaşım okunmuyosun. okuyorum okuyorum okuyorum okuyorum 5 sayfa ilerlemişim

Boring. May not finish.

Chapter 33. Swift unfolds this story--series of intertwined stories--beautifully.

''eels are none other than the multiplied mutations of one-time sinful monks and priests whom st Dunstan, ina holy rage, consigned to eternal, slithery penance, thus giving to the cathedral city of the Fens its name: Ely - the eely place.''

I know this feeling.

I'm not sure why Tom Crick s getting the axe. Is it because he is going far afield with his history lessons: that is, way beyond the scope of history? Or for some other reason that has not been divulged?

I like the way Swift connects the chapters, leading with a trailing-off sentence in the prior chapter and finishing the sentence in the title of the following chapter.

Swift has a talent for unfolding the mystery slowly and irresistibly.

Chapter 6 already. I'm still not sure why Prof. Landow had us read this in our study of the Victorians.

I like Crick. He is a sharp-thinking, salt-of-the-earth type who likes his students and thinks about things. I feel like I know him like someone I have coffee with every week.

Relaxing. Like watching Yankee Workshop. I can imagine some might feel it's too slow, but I'm not restless yet.

Everything might amount to nothing

Third to last paragraph history-story

Construction of history and its uncertainty

I don't ever want to read a Booker prize finalist or winner ever again

I can't stand this book

'And there's no saying what heady potions we won't concoct, what meanings, myths, manias we won't imbibe in order to convince ourselves that reality is not an empty vessel.'

'Children, to whom, throughout history, stories have been told, chiefly but not always at bedtime, in order to quell restless thoughts; whose need of stories is matched only by the need adults have of children to tell stories to, of receptacles for their stock of fairy-tales, of listening ears on which to unload those most unbelievable yet haunting of fairy-tales, their own lives [. . .]'

will i ever finish this book? we just don't know.