Luke > Recent Status Updates

Sometimes I have to wonder whether a lot of people, myself included, on this website are actually interested in books/reading/engaging with fictional/nonfictional narratives in one way or another, or whether it's just they can't imagine living without constantly demonstrating how good they are at following directions even in their so-called leisure activities.

Middle class, white with a dash of Chinese, suburbia. Oldest kid's going to Harvard; youngest kid, a fifth grader, is reading The Sound and the Fury for funsies. Perhaps it's because, before college, I, too, embodied the concept of academic prowess acting as adequate stand in for a personality, but I sure hope this book does better than that.

We've finally hit the most enjoyable, aka the pre/de-colonial Pacific Islands, part of the narrative; even Lapierre's constant, tedious Othering ways can't ruin the experience.

Our entire tragedy lies in the fact that our victims and executioners are the same people.

Thank you, any self-satisfied/absorbed/righteous armchair diagnosing and likely liberal rando on this website who thinks calling an individual a narcissist/sociopath/psychopath qualifies as a legitimate critique of said individual's lack of solidarity, integrity, and critical awareness. You've made this website that much less safe for me and my community for the sake of your widdle social justice warrior feelings.

Even hell is something that people will try to understand.

Since the only way to deal with quarantine during 100 degree F weather with no A/C is to conduct low intensity anti-boredom maneuvers, I'm making myself a new digital shelf devoted to TBR works of mine that have been added by at least five people and that no one's read yet. So far, everything's in translation, most of the authors are women, and most of those women aren't white. Sounds about right.

Switching between this and three pieces of nonfiction, two of them on the more massive end of the spectrum, has been a little jarring, but as they say, variety is the spice of life.

My hard work earned me two medals and three heart attacks.

When there was no one to marry a Bedouin couple in the desert, they just circled a tree, commanding it three times with the words, "You! Tree! Marry us!" and then got down to business.

Of all the things I expected from 2020, the revival of Hyperbole and a Half was not one of them, but it's very much appreciated: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com...

"During that time, we were all under the impression that we would get promoted if we killed some socialists. I almost got myself in trouble."

-A would be assassin of Yamakawa Kikue, realist social critic, communist, and women's rights advocate

Another start of the month, another host of idiotic in-feed ads spewed out by GRAmazon.

Marie Bashkirtseff's been mentioned on at least three separate occasions so far. I think Lapierre has a thing. In any case, oh, for a decent translation of the latter parts of Bashkirtseff's diaries! I'd rather my last memories of that figure not consist of the largely repetitive fatuousness that filled the first volume.

While I can guarantee that 99% of the people who follow me on this site have no idea what they're getting into, they're still better than the rando strangers who send me friend requests.

It's possible to survive the camps, but you can't survive other people.

"I was afraid that the supporters of the emperor and champions of patriotism might dig up my corpse and hack it to bits. I did not want to look too shabby when this happened."

-Kanno Sugako, written six days before she was executed for plotting to assassinate the emperor

All of you wanted capitalism. You dreamt of it! Don't go crying now that you've been lied too...

People who are not deceived about themselves will extract something fresh out of the foment of every age, simply by lending it expression. I feel that the world could not go on if this were not done.

...in a state of unspeakable destitution which he mistook for peace...

Maybe ramping up my reading challenge will help by giving me something to focus on. Or maybe it'll make dealing with the threat of having to flee, during a pandemic, the 3rd largest fire in my state's history even worse. Hm.

Work's got me making a guide on Asian/Pacific Islander horror/ghost stories/urban legends/(supernatural) lore, so if any of y'all have any works to contribute to that conversation, be a dear and let me know.

If you're not a victim of terrorism, there are no rehabilitation centers, psychotherapists, or psychiatrists for you.

Excellent, excellent, excellent introduction, which is unfortunately not something I can say too often.

A doctor can certainly aim to serve humanity in general, but there's also nothing stopping him if he prefers to reserve his services for a particular sector of humanity.

Love it when I'm reading a review and minding my own business until the reviewer takes it upon themselves to armchair diagnose someone. Real cute how neurotypicals love to shove their filthy judgments into everything.

The practical thing about a law is that no one person made it, so no one is personally responsible for it.

How many times, he wonders, must a person relearn everything he knows, rediscovering it over and over, and how many coverings must be torn away before he's finally able to truly grasp things, to understand them to the bone? Is a human lifetime long enough? His lifetime, or anyone else's?

The pieces themselves in this collection are going well, some authors even recommending themselves for further serious perusal (especially all of the women whom I've never heard of), but I could do without the various white guys (hypocrticially) moaning about one superficiality or another every five seconds. What I wouldn't give to read these types speaking of Paris the way that they're speaking of Tokyo.

This is the first advantage of living alone: vanity proves to be superfluous baggage. And the second: there is no one to disrupt your routine.