Readers thread: what or who are you reading right now?

[Rose White]

@Freddyt ah! Makes sense! Yes I remember the one where the chimp wife (Larson always drew horn-rim glasses on whichever character was the wife) found a blond hair on her chimp husband and was angry at him about it!

 

[Paladin_141]

Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies.

I love Cain. He's my 'spirit animal', as they say. Or 'mood kindred', rather.

I'm going as him to Comic Con next year, assuming I'm alive by then.

 

[Friday]

@Freddyt ah! Makes sense! Yes I remember the one where the chimp wife (Larson always drew horn-rim glasses on whichever character was the wife) found a blond hair on her chimp husband and was angry at him about it!

“That Jane Goodall Bitch”

My fave part is that Jane Goodall has an autographed copy of that one, whilst her fans were threatening to sue on her behalf!

 

[Rose White]

One of my faves was where the ant dad got new shoes but they were like human size shoes and he enters his house and immediately stomps on his kids without realizing it and his wife is exasperated with his shoe choice. Idk why that one made me laugh and laugh! I think it was because of the absurdity mixed with the mundane of “poor shoe choice” and the trope of the wife knowing better.

just realized: it allowed me to safely laugh at “unfortunate decision of the father”. Which leads me to a whole other topic I’ve been trying to approach. How we laugh about our trauma is probably something worth noting. Humor is such a complex thing.

(Why is trauma peeking around every damn corner?! Can’t even talk lightly about Far Side without . Maybe it’s something akin to paraidoilia, or how ever you spell it, that thing where you see faces.)

 

[Freddyt]

My fave part is that Jane Goodall has an autographed copy of that one, whilst her fans were threatening to sue on her behalf!

There's a forward by her for one of his collections. Her big remembrance was when they came to visit and disappeared for a long while. She thought maybe they were having fun. Ended up they were putting up their tent (and not very well.)

It is hilarious all the people who were the subject of his work and loved the cartoon, vs the angry fans who thought he was making fun of them.....

 

[Rose White]

all the people who were the subject of his work and loved the cartoon, vs the angry fans who thought he was making fun of them

Zizek the philosopher says that insults are one of the most intimate ways people can communicate. He contrasts hatred veiled as political correctness with love veiled as insults—he says he knew he was friends with someone in the army when they could exchange the most offensive jokes with each other.

What a deep honor it would have been to be the subject of a Far Side comic or some great comedian’s joke!

It’s such a double edged sword though! For example, to be in a relationship where the other puts themselves and others (including you) down (as a “joke”)—could feel equally liberating and suffocating—now I’m speaking from experience!

Jokes and recovering from caregiver abuse are a tricky mix.

Larson and Goodall and Zizek are so far above the plebeians—it’s tempting to want to identify with them rather than the common rabble.

 

[Freddyt]

Zizek the philosopher says that insults are one of the most intimate ways people can communicate.

I am also a huge Pearls Before Swine fan. I loved the one where Pig is writing a letter to the TV network saying he thought he saw a little pink hand come out of Ted Koppel's hair and wave hello one night.
The guy who draws the comic sent the original to Mr Koppel's staff to give to him as a present because he loved the cartoon so much.

 

[Rose White]

I am reading three books currently.

“The Book of Talismans, Amulets, & Zodiacal Gems” by William Pavitt, first published in 1914. Very Theosophical and Rosicrucian.

“The Analects of Confucius” translated by D.C. Lau and published in 1979. There are probably much better translations out there with annotations (this one is a paperback Penguin Classics edition) but this was the copy most accessible to me so it’s a start and it’s decent. I’m ashamed to say that I use Chat GPT to understand about a third of them. Ashamed because my daughter has made me aware that using Chat GPT is like willingly feeding myself to Moloch (the Allen Ginsburg version). Not ashamed that I can’t understand them—those cultural references without annotations are near impossible.

“The Food of France” by Waverley Root first published in 1958. A nostalgic romp through the French countryside and wishing I could eat that locally. Then I go heat up some frozen tray of vittles because I’ve been reading instead of cooking or cleaning!

 

[Rose White]

Started listening to Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Feels very Gothic

 

[Rose White]

“This Mournable Body” by Tsitsi Dangarembga

 

[whiteraven]

Nobody's Girl. Hard book to read.

 

[Teasel]

Nobody's Girl. Hard book to read.

I want to read this book, at the same time I kind of don't because I bet it is really hard.