Jo Kaiser > Recent Status Updates

I love the way Sontag breaks things down; 'This is the language of political paranoia, with its characteristic distrust of a pluralistic world,'.

Another line I've fallen in love with; 'Nothing is more punitive than to give a disease a meaning--that meaning being invariably a moralistic one,'.

I love this line; 'Like TB, insanity is a kind of exile. The metaphor of the psychic voyage is an extension of the romantic idea of travel that was associated with tuberculosis. To be cured, the patient has to be taken out of his or her daily routine. It is not an accident that the most common metaphor for an extreme psychological experience viewed positively [...] is a trip,'.

I have mixed feeling so far; sometimes the prose is incredibly witty but most of the time it's unnecessarily flowery. The movie was pretty true to the novel though which is always nice.

Finally gotten to the 'but not all hours are equal' bit!

I love this question and the unpacking of its answer: 'Next Wednesday's meeting has had to be moved forward by two days. What day is the meeting happening now?'

It's curious to read about how other people view time; despite being a very visual person, I don't see time in a series of images. I've never really thought of how I see time - interesting stuff!

I thought it appropriate to stop here. That is all. Favourite line so far (that's actually on page 43 because page 42 is pretty much blank): 'Douglas Adams differentiated strongly both between being agnostic ('silliness') and atheist, and between merely believing there isn't a God and being convinced,'.

I gave into the temptation and read some more. Now I really need to go and get some sleep!

So we've finished the writing of 'The Tornado Ashes Club' and are now onto the editing process. From a writer's perspective (if I may call myself that), the description is depressingly accurate in a humorous way - I've found myself both nodding and cringing at his 'wisdom'. If I didn't have to wake up so early tomorrow I would most definitely keep reading!

I love this seemingly random list of bestseller ideas; my favourite is: 'A yoga instructor/marine biologist discovers that dolphins have a code in their DNA. (Put there by aliens? The Catholic Church? Oil companies?'

Loving this book so far; very funny and on point about a lot of things. Favourite line thus far: '[on writing the truth] People hate the truth. It's literally their least favourite thing in the entire universe.'

I love how relatable this all is in the weirdest ways. I'm really enjoying it (I honestly didn't think I would!) Favourite line thus far; 'When I was sixteen I started reading philosophy books I didn't understand: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus. I stopped believing in God and being nice to people I didn't lie,'. (I feel I went through a similar phase at that age).

I know I've only just started reading but I'm already in love! Best line so far: 'What you need is a book that takes you out of this world permanently. Which is called a gun, I think.

I picked this up from the library the other day not knowing a thing about the author, Michael Hastings, or the book itself - the cover intrigued me and having recently seen 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' I was in the mood to read something with a common theme i.e. the 'magazine'. So far it's incredibly charming, witty and funny - I love it!