A Playlist Offering: Here’s a random collection of recommendations if anybody’s looking for new music! At the top is Vienna by Billy Joel, a song that I think captures my sentiments with this edition of Having Known Such Joy. Tiny Desks: As always my usual way of finding new music is through NPR’s Tiny Desk… Continue reading HKSJ: February 2023 Music Update
Category: Reviews
My Listen-Through of the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums
Last updated on 23 February 2023. Last listened to #451: ‘First Take’ by Roberta Flack Ranked Spreadsheet: http://www.nathanzou.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Rolling-Stones-Top-500.xlsx Favorite Albums So Far:
Babylon
Review of Babylon (2022) dir. Damien Chazelle ★★★★☆ Watched on January 26th, 2023. !!Spoilers Below!! Babylon is ambitious and indulgent and fantastic for so much of its 3 hour 9 minute runtime and then Chazelle absolutely fucks the ending in nearly every conceivable way. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie and I’ve… Continue reading Babylon
The Motorcycle Diaries
Review of The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara Originally published on Goodreads on January 27th, 2023. ★★★★★ Guevara is a fantastic writer – there’s no doubt that his charisma was not solely a live quality. The diaries begin in anticipation and excitement and end in the weight of knowledge and the world on his… Continue reading The Motorcycle Diaries
Books of 2022
Occasionally this year I wrote Goodreads reviews that were less of a formality and had a bit more substance. There’s only a few (The Voices of Marrakesh, East of Eden, Into the Wild, Lolly Willowes) so I’ve linked them here. You can read some brief thoughts on the first half of the year’s reading (1-14)… Continue reading Books of 2022
Lolly Willowes
Review of Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner Originally published on Goodreads on December 30th, 2022 ★★★★★ Lolly Willowes is delicious and near sadistic in its espousal of freedom from society, family, religion – or in a word, obligation. This is a book for the burdened to be reminded that burdens are not always noble… Continue reading Lolly Willowes
Into the Wild
Review of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Originally published on Goodreads on December 22nd, 2022 ★★★★★ I admire good profile writing, but good profile writers have a tendency to have us love and root for the profilee, even when they’re not so purely saintly. I say this first because McCandless’ story appeals to me.… Continue reading Into the Wild
East of Eden
Review of East of Eden by John Steinbeck Originally published on Goodreads on December 12th, 2022 ★★★★☆ Edit 2 days later… I don’t think I liked how the ending went and it’s completely soured my impression of the story. Which is a shame bc I enjoyed reading so much of it! Still worth reading and… Continue reading East of Eden
The Voices of Marrakesh
Review of The Voices of Marrakesh by Elias Canetti Originally published on Goodreads on July 28th, 2022 ★★★★★ Canetti had a very different experience of Marrakech than the one I had – especially since some 5/6 decades passed between our two visits – but I think a lot of the feelings were shared. It was… Continue reading The Voices of Marrakesh
May/June 2022 Reading
This is about my reading in both May and June, since I read at least two great books in May that I desperately want to praise. So here’s the list of what I read these two months: Everyday Aesthetics by Yuriko Saito (May 5) A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr (May 20)… Continue reading May/June 2022 Reading