recognito | February James Time Reads

February: completed 8 books, including a few I had been reading since the Beginning of Time (2020). A lot of nonfiction, most of it kind of meh. My main takeaway of this month’s reading: the working journalist to book writer pipeline is producing some truly meh cultural criticism but I am DYING to learn more about the vine house breakdown. Of the non-McPhee books I read, I enjoyed Because Internet by McCulloch for its linguistic analysis of internet speak. This isn’t an area where I’m familiar with (I don’t like to think about words or the online) but I think she’s largely successful in blending academic linguistics with an engaging style that trusts the reader to follow along. read to feel old and to be soooo thankful that she wants us to think of emojis as gestures and not language.

Also on an unexpected McPhee family read and hit a mini-bingo: Annals of the Former World by dad McPhee, Family Lexicon by Ginzberg, tr. Jenny McPhee, and Omega Farm (I know. I’m thinking it, too) by Martha McPhee, which is a do not recommend unless you want Dad McPhee popping in every 70 pages to talk about rocks. It's not a bad book, but underbaked. McPhee streak will continue in March/April with a fairly thick tome also translated by Jenny McPhee and Conversations with the Archdruid by John McPhee.

Re: Ginzberg Family Lexicon, it’s a cliche to say “wow it’s lively and spritely” - it has a lot of charm and a focus on family language and repetition of language; as such the world can feel almost artificially small, despite the span of 20+ years through mussolini -> ww2 -> post-war. it feels like it’s expecting a local audience, which I am not much of one–that in itself is a kind of excitement in these dire reading days…

On Beauty and Being Just by Scarry is genuinely a little bizarre, and I do not know how to recommend or not recommend it, so take that as you wish.

Decent reading month, but I miss fiction real bad.

Number of books I have checked out from the library: 5. a modest, manageable sum