Dan > Recent Status Updates

I’m supposed to believe this guy has no arm, legs, or face, but somehow his penis is working fine?

This book is bad

This isn’t bad or anything, but after this and two other books written by philosopher-turned-soldiers, I think it’s safe to say philosophy isn’t for me.

“The god [conventional religionists] seek is is ever ‘the God of our Fathers’ and never of our children’s children. . . . To them living godlessly would connote the denial of the physical existence of the Judaic or Christian god, always imagined as a Person . . . to whom they pray when in dire straights or praise in good times.” Buddy, we’re only in the forward; please literally anything about Judaism.

I love reading kids’ books from different time periods because you get to see the evolution of values adults were trying to impart in kids back then. There was a scene about a pep rally that said some boys were obstinate about having school spirit, but they would be properly shunned until they got over themselves. So funny.

A little boring and sanctimonious so far, but that’s to be expected from some 1920s book I found that didn’t even have an entry on Goodreads yet. Regretting neglecting to put a picture, though; I thought it would autogenerate a generic one.

I found the early parts about combat as a sacred or holy space really interesting, but now he’s talking a lot about Jung, which I care much less about. Apparently war memoirs are either written by dudes who are barely literate or guys who jerk off to Ancient Greek philosophy and myths and old school psychoanalysts.

Had this planned for around September, but it’s become unfortunately relevant, so here we are.

I’m having trouble keeping track of which boy is which—the illustrator is having the same problem. I also don’t get why everyone is commenting about Jack being a redhead because of his reddish-blond hair, but no one is saying anything to Chip, who is also a redhead with reddish-brown hair.

Read this when I was sixteen and didn’t get why people think it’s one of the best books they’ve ever read. Figured maybe I was too young to get it back then, so I’m rereading now at twenty-seven. Still don’t get what the big deal is.

The quality of writing is much, much better than usually used in war memoirs; I don’t have a single complaint on that front. But I’m going to have to buy this because I’ve filled my entire library receipt with notes already. I’ve never seen such cognitive dissonance in my life as is being written by this man. Truly unbelievable at time.

I like getting super old children’s books at antiques stores because I think it’s fun to compare them to kidlit now. But for some reason, the horrific racism always surprises me. I should know to expect that by now, but apparently it hasn’t sunk in yet.

Hedges is making a number of good points, it so far it’s mostly been pontificating.

As a metro Detroit native, I’ve been looking forward to finally getting a Screech Owls set in Hockeytown, but I’m confused that this is the storyline he’s going with. Can’t see what pull a reality show plot is in a town that’s so rich in actual hockey history and culture.

There’s a team in here called the Saint Petersburg Pushkins, which I’m in love with. Imagine signing your kid up for hockey in America and he ends up the Whitmans or the Faulkners.

I’ve established enough familiarity with these torture books (primarily the US’s use of it post-9/11) that I’m able to be discerning about them. While still good, this is the weakest so far.

This keeps making me cry

A gag gift for Hanukkah, but it’s actually pretty cute so far.

My mom is in love with Outlander but can’t talk about it because no one else will watch it. Normally I don’t read books about gay men written by women, but I’m not going to watch seven seasons of 1800s Scottish romance, so I’m reading this as a compromise.

I haven’t even hit anything scary yet and I’m already having sleep paralysis nightmares about Barlowe.