Karim > Recent Status Updates

Beautiful, often hilarious vignettes drawn from real life. The English translation is fine, but could use some tightening, and I wonder if it'd have benefitted from some footnotes. Still, ya can't keep a story like "No Harm Intended" down; it's a very Arab little thing, written (like the others) with a lot of affection from people. I've been reading it in little bursts as breaks from bigger texts.

Still reading sporadically. Really not an easy book for me to get through these days. So much of the book, written before the 2023-2026 genocide, is hopeful; it breaks my heart.

Thought I'd update my slow nightly progress so I can remind myself I do *something* other than work all day.

Three essays in. What is there to say? I wish I could smack this on the head of everyone pretending history began on October 7.

I've never read the Brontes, so I took advantage of my flight yesterday to get started on "Wuthering Heights". I'd suspected this was a "classic" I was reading too late, but I'm liking it; it's atmospheric and compellingly written. I hope my suspicion it's heading for precociousness doesn't bear out.

Starting over. No time to read.

It's been a miserable few days, so I started over last night. Super compelling. I'm entranced by Redemption in Indigo.

I read about 150 pages of <>Redemption in Indigo in a single sitting a few days ago, if that's any suggestion.

That Thatcher was a bit rubbish, wasn't she?

Picked this up wanting something light, but the orientalism and racism are infuriating.

With the arrest, finally, of the alleged killer—he's pleaded not guilty and innocent until found otherwise, but it'd take a miracle to overcome evidence this damning—I'm finally allowing myself to borrow "Lost Girls". To my understanding, it focuses on victims, humanising them. They were "vulnerable," so nobody cared they disappeared until their bodies were found on Gilgo Beach. This should be interesting.

I read, I read!

The way this book is structured makes me go back and reread a lot. It has this dreamy oddness to it, becoming vivid only during battle scenes. Interesting technique.

Incredible, so far.

Reacquainting myself with Stuxnet and again majorly impressed with what it does; something like that takes commitment and intelligence. From a purely engineering standpoint, it's a piece of art (although the number of zero-day exploits raises a few questions). The political side is, uh, murky at best.

Me: This book is about this!

Book: No it isn't!

Me: Oh.

This book has gone down in flames, but I'm finishing it.

All the good stuff is weighed down by silly storytelling and hamfisted beats. There's a part in chapter 36 so implausible I'm thinking of quitting.

I've been needing something light. I'd be lying if I said I was wowed by The Priory of the Orange Tree, but it's a nice nightcap.

Ow, my head.

Liking it but man, it needs humour.