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S5 E44.

That was pure joy.

Based on how much I've been loving Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES, I picked up a copy of GREAT EXPECTATIONS and grabbed a nice hardcover of Le Guin's THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS today.

Alright, I've been a busy man lately. Some updates.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: I'm sitting around 60% on this one and honestly it's only because I'm doing it as a buddy read and agreed to stay with a serialized pace. If it weren't for that, I would have devoured this one. There have been several times when I have caught myself rereading paragraphs just so I can really let the gorgeous prose sink in. Events are starting to ramp up in the novel now, and unless something really goes sideways before the end I expect this will likely be taking a rightful place as one of the best novels I've ever read.

MEDITATIONS by Marcus Aurelius: mercifully short book, this one. If you're unaware, this is essentially a Stoic philosophy written by a Roman Emperor. Apparently it was never meant to be published but was more of a personal journal of sorts. I hate read this book, and probably should have dropped it for something else but I fell prey to a sunk-cost fallacy mentality on it. There were bits in there that I thought were actually thought-provoking (like major sections about accepting death and your place in the greater place of nature) but so much of it just doesn't stand for me. He repeats as a core mantra that everyone dies and to accept death and that everyone is forgotten usually eventually, but that very premise is difficult to take since I'm reading his words nearly 2000 years after his lifetime and so many of the names are of men, mostly emperors and philosophers, that are still known as well.

THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy: Another mercifully short one, though this one sat much more favorably with me. This is a heartbreaking novel, and exceptionally grim. But that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone glancingly familiar with the author. It's really hard to describe my thoughts on this one because of how unrelentingly dark it is, but it's the core of hope even in the darkest circumstances and of a father trying to care and provide for his child even when it seems hopeless that really touched me. That said, I'm not sure I'll ever read this one again because it was just brutal.

 TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 17 January 2025 - 09:14 AM, said:

This is a really good point and one I really should have considered more.

I'm a bit put off by VanderMeer's aggressiveness here. I honestly think that we're watching a lot of people grieve over reconciling who they thought their friend was over who he actually is. People can be very good at hiding their true selves from friends and loved ones.

I actually really appreciated Scalzi's response and how he's tried to lay out his personal/professional boundaries and how this has muddled that for him. Through something unrelated, I've dealt with having a similar situation at work when someone I considered a colleague and friend did something that made us all look behind the curtain to see who he really was and the strong front he was putting up to those around him. Seeing Scalzi's struggle here has made me feel seen and I don't think it's a bad thing to see the people around Gaiman struggling with coming to terms with of this. I think it's just human and may help people through this situation or through shit of their own.