James Rowland > Recent Status Updates

Different gravy

We’re cooked

Only things I knew about this book was it’s a classic and slightly racist. Felt it was pretty innocent until Jim started to speak…

“But the effort of talking American seemed to have tired him. He did not say anything after that.” Hemingway ate with that.

Also I’m gonna use this when I’m in a similar setting:
"There isn't too much rum in that.'
I went over to the cupboard and brought the rum bottle and poured a half-tumblerful into the pitcher.
'Direct action,' said Bill. It beats legislation?’

The twins being mixed up their entire lives and deaths >

Magical realism… trippy stuff

Elite reading day posted up in Victoria park.

I don’t know what to make of it but just wanted to note down Arcadio’s constant remark of facing the gun squad in the future

Slow progression, I just need to reread the previous chapters via sparknotes summaries and I’ll be back in form

“Time mitigated his mad proposal, but it aggravated his feelings of frustration.”

Don Apolinar Mascote, what a name..

Slow progression, I just need to reread the previous chapters via sparknotes summaries and I’ll be back in form

“Time mitigated his mad proposal, but it aggravated his feelings of frustration.”

Don Apolinar Mascote, what a name..

Marques predicted the internet …

"Science has eliminated distance," Melquíades proclaimed. "In a short time, man will be able to see what is happening in any place in the world without leaving his own house."

“His own heart seemed to him to be much like an arrow stripped of the flashing white feathers that gave it direction.”

Going to finish this today

I blame Alfred for my slowness in reading this book recently

The p216 onwards description of the clouds and then the ocean had a metaphysical undertone I enjoyed, which was reinforced with the final line “we were discussing the transmigration of the souls.”

Reading on my balcony in the sun to start my morning, as the four young boys - all characters with depth - stared at the big Buddha of Kamakura. This is health!

This was comical, “Pairing each husband with his own wife was an exquisitely refined torture that the Baron endured with cheerful equanim-ity. It was, after all, one that he preferred and had, in tact, pioneered.”

Yukio then follows that up with this, “The Baron was not the kind of man to desire a passionate rapport with life, and he was ready to welcome any form of behavior that precluded this…” GOAT.

“A graceful death - as a richly patterned kimono, thrown carelessly across a polished table, slides unobtrusively down into the darkness of the floor beneath. A death marked by elegance.

The thought of dying suddenly spurred him with a desire to see Satoko, if only for a moment.”

Mishima might be my GOAT…

I am in for an all-timer. Chapter 13 is one of the greatest chapters I’ve ever read. Their discussion shifting from the timed of your life shifting to history of the times to then chance and will was such a unique train of thought.

“You and I, you see, must be immersed in some style of living or other, but we're like goldfish swimming around in a bowl without ever noticing it.”

Discussion of Roman natural law vs traditional Asian law was an interesting tangent, “and rather than making an appeal to human reason, the Laws seemed to play on the threat of retribution. And thus as a doctrine of law, it placed somewhat less trust in human nature than did the Roman law with its reliance on the powers of reason.”