selenodyssey

‹BOOK› I finished The Hearing Trumpet in the morning! This was the third book of the year (all three were quite short, around 230-250 pages). Would I read anything else from Leonora Carrington again? No. I say that firmly. Do I regret reading this novel? No. It’s a dense one for sure, filled with the unhinged imagination of Carrington, ancient and medieval myth, modern dystopia, revolutionary feminism and comedy. The latter I enjoyed the most. The rest… well honestly I do applaud how wild Carrington’s brain is and how she builds up her fever dream into a well-thought out system that convey important social and political messages. It’s not just an artist putting perplexing ideas on top of each other. It feels so though. It demands work from the reader. And while I was doing that work (Olga Tokarczuk’s essay and this article were extremely helpful) I was more appreciative of getting to know Carrington’s life story then the novel itself.

‹DIY› I started knitting the so called Sophie scarf to practise some basic stiches that I haven’t yet used before. I feel I’m messing it up so I might go to a workshop that the local yarn shop organises every week.

‹MUSIC› Today’s new/old discovery was Pulp’s This is Hardcore. The title song is my absolute favourite since I heard them playing it live at Sziget. Before that, during the noughties still, Pulp was Common People for me and that’s it. And it’s still is in a sense. I like how unsexy and sexy these songs are on the album. Common people’s odd romance meets Jarvis Cocker’s huge personality (I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials – from the song Dishes). I also watched PJ Harvey‘s Tiny Desk concert, and she’s lovely, beautiful, looks so fragile and she’s talented as ever, I’m a devoted fan, but (and here comes the but) I love her for her raw early LPs and not for her latest ballads. White Chalk was a big cut-off for me. I may revisit it to see if my feelings since had changed. I wouldn’t bet on it.