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Jesse Atkinson

jsatk@sfba.club

Joined 11 months ago

I’m on Mastodon at @jsatk@sfba.social

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2024 Reading Goal

Jesse Atkinson has read 0 of 12 books.

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood (1994, Vintage) 5 stars

Review of 'In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Yeah. That’ll do.

This really is just the absolute bedrock of true crime. Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Harris, etc., all owe a huge debt. But unlike many things that serve as a template or the first of something that is later improved upon, this is still a damn well-written book.

I appreciated that Capote only showed you the violence when necessary. It’s clear he himself didn’t want to go there, but also needed to understand why. And he, Dewey, Susan, and the reader are all left without a satisfying answer.

Good lord. Good book.

Harold Bloom: How to Read and Why 2 stars

Review of 'How to Read and Why' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

The intro is good. The individual chapters are great IF you've read those books. But they're quite useless and spoiler-y if you haven't.

This title is misleading. This is more "Here's some very important books Harold Bloom likes and wanted to write about why he liked them so much." Which is fine. But it's definitely not "How to Read and Why".

reviewed As I lay dying by William Faulkner (William Faulkner manuscripts ;)

William Faulkner: As I lay dying (1987, Garland Pub.) 4 stars

Written in stream-of-consciousness style with multiple narrators, the story follows a journey wherein the family …

Review of 'As I lay dying' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I get it. It’s good. Frustrating prose at times. But compelling character study.

Nearly everyone in this book sucks except Cash and Darl until he uhhhh ya know. And I feel bad for Dewey.

Anse Bundren can fuck right off.

Drew Neil: Modern Vim: Craft Your Development Environment with Vim 8 and Neovim (2018, The Pragmatic Programmer, LLC) 3 stars

Review of 'Modern Vim: Craft Your Development Environment with Vim 8 and Neovim' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Really solid modern advice. Although at times it feels like a glorified blog post rather than a deep dive. And often turns into “use this plugin by tpope”. Solid book and I learned a fair amount. But not a must read for vim nerds.