Greg's Updates

Greg is on page 171 of 193 of Ice

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:04:50 -0700

Greg is on page 171 of 193 of Ice.

Greg commented on "April 2025 - Fiction Group Read - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (spoiler free thread)" in All About Books

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:20:51 -0700

Greg made a comment in the All About Books group:

I started this today, and the writing is extraordinary, so beautiful!

I like the way that Vuong portrays the mother too; despite the [spoilers removed]. He understands and accepts her for who she is, without romanticizing her at all. The characterization and especially the lyrical prose are exquisite!

It's fascinating his definition of "monster": a "hybrid signal," a signal that points in mutliple directions. He says monsters are both a "shelter" and a "warning," both nurturing and dangerous I guess. He compares his mother to a creature of mythology, to a Centaur . . . something human that yet also has something of the feral power of a beast. As a "freak" or "fairy," he says that he also identifies with that double-nature that his mother inhabits. He takes that insult of being considered a monster, and he turns it into something else. It's interesting that he wears his mother's dress. Both of them exist in multiple worlds, without feeling fully settled in any of those worlds. They are larger than their circumstances.

I love his way of seeing her and his way of seeing himself.

But Laura, I understand what you mean. I imagine that this would be a very difficult book to translate and also a quite difficult book to read in a second language. It definitely reads like poetry.

So much of what he says is expressed in metaphorical terms, like using the migration of the Monarchs to refer to the mother's migration (and to generations of immigrants in general). And he often mixes timelines and jumps from incident to incident without clear transitions. Even with English as my first language, I do find myself taking extra time with the text to savor it in the way I do with poetry.

I have a whole quarter page of notes written down, and I'm only 15 pages into the book!

Greg commented on "Lit on the Rocks [2025]" in Shine & Shadow

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 23:52:13 -0700

Greg made a comment in the Shine & Shadow group:

Los Compadres +1

Tequila
2. Margarita
The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham ★★�� (3.0)
For the purpose of the prompt, I'll consider the homunculi as [spoilers removed]. A somewhat entertaining story, but the characters are all one-note; not one of Maugham's best.

Greg is on page 17 of 246 of On Earth We're Briefly Go

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 19:27:42 -0700

Greg is on page 17 of 246 of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.

Greg commented on "Promotions, Sales, & Giveaways" in Shine & Shadow

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 09:52:55 -0700

Greg made a comment in the Shine & Shadow group:

Eryn wrote: "Has anyone read any of these books? Audible is having yet another 241 sale and I'm eyeing some titles 👀 -

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters..."

Of those, I've only read Piranesi, and I add my recommendation to that one! Others I've heard things about but haven't read personally.

Greg commented on "The Phantom Horsewoman" in Works of Thomas Hardy

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 15:56:53 -0700

Greg made a comment in the Works of Thomas Hardy group:

Yes, sorry about the confusion Connie. I remembered the image, but I couldn't recall who posted it before.

Emma certainly does appear a lot in his poetry!

Greg commented on "Films and TV" in Shine & Shadow

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 02:37:50 -0700

Greg made a comment in the Shine & Shadow group:

I like all of that Whitney. I hadn't noticed that about the intimacy / withholding of intimacy, but that makes perfect sense, and it plays into the father's whole thing, the antiquated gender ideas he grew up with.

And the second episode showing the social pressures and the disconnection, I absolutely agree! I've never been to the UK so I don't know if I'm thinking of it right, but that episode put me in mind of class too.

It didn't seem like the sort of school experience that would happen in a wealthier area: lots of showing of videos, many students poorly adjusted and very unruly, the educators less equipped, with a large number of students per teacher. It stressed me out just experiencing that school for an hour; I can't imagine teaching there or even worse, living through it as a student. It was one step away from full on Lord of the Flies!

Your Atwood quote is so perfect and fitting!

But I sometimes wonder about the pre-Internet thing for myself. The bullying might have been worse with the extra online dimension, for sure, but on the positive side: I would've been able to find other gay people way back when it seemed like I was the only one. And the culture was so monolithic in that particular place in Southern America in the 1980's where I went to junior high school; it would have been a lifeline to have exposure to other cultures, to know that not everyone was living under than that one monolithic world view I was living under. On the other hand, when I was younger in grade school, it was a gift having a tremendous amount of freedom to mess about outside with no one knowing exactly where I was, That allowed me to escape things at home in a way that I'm not sure would be possible today with more video games and virtual interaction. Many positives and many negatives I think; I'm not sure which would have won out.

Greg voted in a poll

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:09:11 -0700

Greg voted for “[b:The Sympathizer|23168277|The Sympathizer (The Sympathizer, #1)|Viet Thanh Nguyen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1718982183l/23168277._SX50_.jpg|42713530]” in the poll May 2025 Light: Overcome!!.

Greg Anderson liked a readstatus

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 07:45:27 -0700

Greg liked Nidhi’s status update

Nidhi Kumari started reading Minor Detail

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Thu, 20 Mar 2025 16:05:39 -0700

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Shirley (stampartiste) is currently reading A Streetcar Named Desire