Books 22, 23, and 24 of 2018

A Smiley novel without Smiley. I mean, Smiley is there, and his tendrils are woven throughout. But he is only very briefly present in the novel in a physical sense.

Alec Leamas is a more Bond-ish spy than Smiley, who mixes it up mostly in an intellectual sense. Leamas is an action man who works in the field. And his fate really lays bare the realities of that era and that region and the cold callousness of the Cold War. And that Cold War did not end as suspected decades ago but was carried on by the defeated side in new and ingenious ways. This is a novel so taught it thrums like power lines. I read it in about ten minutes.



I enjoy the 'descent into madness' genre of memoir. And when the memoir is written by a Surrealist and the long-time lover of Max Ernst at a time when the entire world had gone mad, well then of course it will be a worthwhile read. The first half of the book is an exquisite introduction, analysis, and biography of Leonora Carrington which is just as good as the memoir itself.



I just may begin collecting dew when the planets are in the correct houses, because Hall lets more of the cat out of the bag than anyone else I've read.

Books 4 and 5 of 2018

Taschen has produced hundreds of really well-done art and photography collections over the years. These volumes are high-quality in binding and the reproductions are exceptional--and they are amazingly affordable!

This collection keeps the Taschen standard of quality, and may be my favorite (after, of course, the lavish Butt Book). There is little text, but what there is illuminates the images thoughtfully with quotes from novels, poetry, plays, and hermetic manuscripts. James Joyce and William Blake share space with Basil Valentine and Dr. John Dee and Carl Jung. Occasionally there is commentary by the author/editor who appears to be an Adept or Sage given the wisdom of his guidance to those of us on the Path.

A volume worthy for either the curious dabbler who thinks occult or hermetic art is "cool" or for the serious seeker trying to uncover the hidden Truths.




As a Humanities teacher who works with middle graders in urban schools, I think this book is a great potential anchor text for teaching current events and historical trends in civil rights and "post-racial" America. The characters are not deep--they are types, and at times the dialogue is simply lame (putting "dawg" every sentence is just too much)--but the story is compelling, the issues are real, and I could envision teaching an entire unit about BLM and Martin and Malcolm and all of the recent police-involved tragedies with unarmed Black men using this novel as an engaging centerpiece. Nic Stone presents several points of view and it would be fun to read with a class and have Socratic Seminars after each couple chapters while learning the historical context and then researching the actual events re-hashed in this novel. The media spin on these cases is a key component of the novel, and any "woke" teacher whose kids are becoming "woke" would find something useful here.

dream

I'm a trainee on a police force. Members of my unit include a woman, a robot, and Dirty Harry. There's a long involved narrative with an evil scientist villain which I can't recall. I am in the office restroom which is ungendered. As I use the urinal the woman is telling me how astonished she is that Dirty Harry has been so nice of late. I agree with her, though I never really knew him when he was not nice. I tell her something which I don't think of as a betrayal, but moments after she leaves Dirty Harry breaks the door off its hinges and yells at me. I get the sense that she told him what I said, and that he interpreted it as a betrayal of trust. I think he is against all robots and that my comment led him to believe that I don't think all robots are bad. His exertions have hurt him and he is kneeling on the floor. I realize how old he is, and comfort him by putting my arm around his shoulders.

Our mission is to infiltrate the mad scientist's lair and destroy his robot. I am given a small weapon which is made of two discs with holes around the circumference on one and small dents on the other. Long plastic tubes go through the holes and fit into the dents, joining the two discs together. All of this must be lined up for firing, but as nothing is permenantly attached I am having trouble getting the weapon ready. Finally it works. I destroy the scientist's robot, and then to appease Dirty Harry I destroy our robot too. He walks me up onto a hill in the desert. There is a monstrous man with a gun on his hip there who is the scientist's sidekick, but he tells us we can't arrest him for lack of evidence and starts walking away. Dirty Harry says "What can I do? He's a lawyer!" but then he wrestles the man to the ground. The man wails pitifully, becomes a buffalo and jumps up. The buffalo runs over to a circular dug-out area on the cliff, and a wolf and bull arrive at the same time. As the two bovines charge each other the wolf is caught between them, snarling. The impact sends the bull flying over the cliff and I wake up.