The literary equivelant to an Edward Hopper, Hemingway has enraptured readers with his terse yet evocative use of the written word. Each story is a kaleidoscope, his utilization of omission works in a hypnotizing and atmospheric effect. Hemingway moves from Saharan hunts brimming with sun-beating, murderous intensity to Spanish civil wars and cloudy French metropolitans. “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” is one of many stories which have stuck with me, and the book will stick with you after the last word and long after the turn of the final page.
Apr 20, 2024
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the endings of great novels stay with you. a momentous rush that last dot, words and eyes speeding towards it almost with reluctance, until yes that world is done but something ripples out, a faint radiance or shadow, like the dark spot that lingers in your eye long after staring at the sun.
this i felt reading:
—portrait of a lady by henry james
—swann’s way by proust
—the red and the black by stendhal
—ulysses by joyce
—the sun also rises by hemingway
Jan 30, 2024
The magic of Camus is his ability to blend heady philosophical ideas with compelling storytelling. This is not to say that the dullness, and banality that plagues his peers works is not present here, but rather present with intention.
His character is morally bereft, apathetic, and unreflecting until the bitter end, yet somehow sympathizable. Meursault speaks to the little voice in all of us that wonders if life really might be meaningless, just an absurd series of events, choices, and consequences that ultimately amount to nothing.
Take your time with this one, it's short but every word counts. Great for a long flight, a week of forecasted rain, or after a full day of corporate jargon and niceties.
Mar 23, 2024
Part of Salinger's Glass Family series (and one of the pieces originally published in the New Yorker that eventually appeared in Nine Stories -- yes, Lisa Loeb's ["Stay (I Missed You)"] backing band was named after the 1953 book). IMO this is where Salinger's debt to Papa Hemingway is laid bare -- the spare, simple prose; the occasional sweary moments (where the protagonist, Seymour, calls a woman he meets a "goddamned sneak"); the somewhat sudden, surprising and macabre ending. I find people typicially have no middle ground for Salinger that isn't "Catcher in the Rye" -- they either love it or loathe it. I'm in the former camp.
Dec 5, 2024
Top Recs from @rexington_
singularly the most devastating piece of songwriting and guitar playing I’ve ever heard
Sep 19, 2024
the og Fleetwood Mac lineup was otherworldly with Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, and Jeremy Spencer you can’t tell me otherwise
Jan 26, 2024
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exploratory conversation between Nick and Séan about life, music, and the intimate carnage of existence. Not quite a memoir, the book moves through Nick‘s personal life but also examines religion, the creative process, and the duality of what spurns a creative. A must read.
Jan 23, 2024