Ecce Sigum

Tag: Anne Garreta

  • February 2024 Books and Reading Notes

    Now that I am no longer trapped under a volume of Dostoevsky I can resume my normal reading pace. In February I completed 16 books and journals. Sure, that sounds like a lot, but I purposefully picked the shorted unread books on my bookshelves. The combined word-count of these 16 books is probably less than a third of what I read in Dostoevsky’s Demons, which took almost two months to finish. And a lot of that was not because of the length of the book, but because it was Dostoevsky, and 1,000 words of Dostoevsky is, like, at least 1,500 words of anyone else.

    A lot of these shorter works are graphic novels, or works in translations from works-in-translation publishers like Deep Vellum, And Other Stories, Open Letter Books, and Two Lines Press.

    Acquisitions

    Reading material acquired in the month of February 2024

    1. Andrzej Tichý (Nichola Smalley, translator), Purity (And Other Stories) [2024.02.24] – The newest arrival from my subscription to And Other Stories.

    Reading List

    The books I read in February 2024

    Books

    1. Wolfgang Hilbig (Isabel Fargo Cole, translator), The Tidings of the Trees [2024.02.01] – Well written and well-translated, but just couldn’t get into this one. Fortunately I have more Hilbig in my library so I can give him another chance.
    2. Saladin Ahmed and Dave Acosta, Dragon [2024.02.01] – Fantastically written and beautifully-illustrated graphic novel. I will now need to seek out more of Ahmed’s comic writings.
    3. Elizabeth A. Trembley, Look Again: A Memoir [2024.02.01] – An amazing memoir about how the stories we tell ourselves (and about ourselves) change over time, and with the telling.
    4. Duanwad Pimwana (Mui Poopoksakul, translator), Bright [2024.02.05]
    5. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41 [2024.02.08]
    6. Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages, Wakulla Springs [2024.02.10]
    7. Chris Abani, The Face: Cartography of the Void [2024.02.10]
    8. Ruth Ozeki, The Face: A Time Code [2024.02.11]
    9. Tash Aw, The Face: Strangers on a Pier [2024.02.11]
    10. Oleg Sentsov (Uilleam Blacker, translator), Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    11. Maurice Broaddus, Buffalo Soldiers [2024.02.15] – Excellent novella in the steampunk tradition. Truly enjoyable reading experience. My only complaint is that this wasn’t a full-size novel.
    12. Anne Garréta (Emma Ramadan, translator), Not One Day [2024.02.17]
    13. Kim Sagwa (Sunhee Jeong, translator), b, Book, and Me [2024.02.21]
    14. Fouad Laroui (Emma Ramadan, translator), The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    15. Carmen Boullosa (Peter Bush, translator), Before [2024.02.26]
    16. Valérie Mréjen (Katie Shireen Assef, translator), Black Forest [2024.02.27]

    Short Prose

    1. Rachel Ayers, “Magicians & Grotesques”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41 [2024.02.07]
    2. Nicole Kimberling, “Quarantine Pantry Challenge”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41 [2024.02.07]
    3. Holly Tamsin, “Fogdog Films”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41 [2024.02.08]
    4. David Fawkes, “Letterghost”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #41 [2024.02.08]
    5. Oleg Sentsov, “Autobiography (In Literary Form)”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.11]
    6. Oleg Sentsov, “Dog”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.11]
    7. Oleg Sentsov, “Childhood”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.11]
    8. Oleg Sentsov, “Hospital”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    9. Oleg Sentsov, “School”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    10. Oleg Sentsov, “Testament”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    11. Oleg Sentsov, “Grandma”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    12. Oleg Sentsov, “The Makars”, Life Went On Anyway [2024.02.12]
    13. Jim C. Hines, “The Blue Corpse Corps” (Patreon subscriber story) [2024.12.15]
    14. Fouad Laroui, “The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.21]
    15. Fouad Laroui, “Dislocation”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.22]
    16. Fouad Laroui, “Born Nowhere”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.22]
    17. Fouad Laroui, “Khouribga, or the Laws of the Universe”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    18. Fouad Laroui, “What’s Not Said in Brussels”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    19. Fouad Laroui, “Bennani’s Bodyguard”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    20. Fouad Laroui, “The Invention of Dry Swimming”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    21. Fouad Laroui, “Fifteen Minutes as Philosophers”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]
    22. Fouad Laroui, “The Night Before”, The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers [2024.02.25]

  • Weekly Round-up, February 17, 2024

    Ice sculpture of a castle at the Elliptic at Rosa Parks Circle, Grand Rapids, Michigan

    The warm weather comes and goes, and it seems that all of winter was packed into a couple of weeks in late January. I have a friend, Mark, who I get together with weekly to practice martial arts. This is much easier outside, because we don’t need to worry about walls, ceilings, and cats. Of course practicing outside in the winter is difficult, except for this winter. Our last outdoor practice session for 2023 was the week before Christmas, and our first of 2024 was the second weekend of February.

    Reading

    Still working my way through short books. Currently reading Not One Day by French writer and Oulipo member Anne Garréta.

    Writing

    Not a lot to report, though I did come up with a couple of ideas for last week’s writing prompt (Genius Loci, Reincarnation, Lost City, War). There is something interesting to be mined from that particular random assemblage of words.

    This Week’s Writing Prompt

    Subject: Colonization, Kaiju
    Setting: Ship
    Genre: Literary Fiction

    Interesting Links