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Book 15

Finished book 12, at the end of which Odysseus whines about having to repeat a story. Library wants this back.

Started the book with trepidation, thinking the writing was distractingly clever. Now starting to get beyond that to some weightier conflicts, such as the representation of the Vietnamese in American-made Vietnam War movies.

The full title: the art and craft of approaching your head of department to submit a request for a raise

Demian: Shut up, you nauseating adolescent.

Siddhartha: I never read this when I was in my 20s, and I'm guessing from the introduction and content that when there was a Hesse boom in the U.S. it was stemming from that age group. I enjoyed it, found it had something to say, partly it made me reflect on moments of change in my own life, and consider these with some sympathy. Also, a very quick read.

Life Story, Briefly Told (1925): inspiring as a way to look at autobiography, and seems somewhat truthful and somewhat fictionalized. In an author's note he says he wrote two versions, and he favored the unpublished one. I found it curious that in the fantastic portion, the biography of his future self, he commits a crime and is imprisoned. Perhaps a sign of his contrariness) that he alludes to,

Lovely volume, Gorey proves himself a man of letters in more ways than one, as the notes themselves are interesting and I am also finding in them a source of more reading (such as a volume of Grimm illustrated by Sendak). I looked at a review by Mark Dery, who wrote "Born to Be Posthumous" and understand this is not entirely honest; that Tom Fitzharris left some text out concerning their relationship. Still great.