Books

Mrs Dalloway

A day in the life of an aristocrat.

I reference it only begrudgingly, because this book only achieves the palest shadow of its target, but it wants to be Ulysses so badly. It is far from it.

The writing at the level of the sentence is very good, and paragraphs sometimes form into coherent sections. But at any point, the perspective might shift to another person, or to a flashback, or from pure stream of consciousness to a more structured narrative.

Ulysses can also feel disorienting and even apparently incoherent at times, but I think any decent reader will find that by the end, it has formed a meaningful whole. Mrs Dalloway does not.

All the nonsense and rigamarole of high modernism with none of its compensating virtues.

Maybe I just didn’t work hard enough at this book. But if there’s significant meaning embedded somewhere in this book, it’s deeply encoded. Seemed like cargo cult modernism and not the real thing.

If anyone loves it, please come help me understand.

Not recommended.

Born Standing Up

Comedy legend briefly tells his story from birth to the top.

It’s a treat. He’s smart, sincere, and sensitive throughout, which took me slightly by surprise since he so often plays the opposite type of character.

But it’s never heavy handed, and it offers its fair share of laughs, too.

Another great example of someone grinding for decades to earn overnight success. 

Recommended for all. Would make a great plane, train, or beach book.

Excellent book. How he breaks down “consistently good” being much harder to achieve than random great nights here and there == super insightful.

Comedians have the hardest lives haha they just don’t show it