Monthly Log: 07.26
I've already talked about most of the books in here in my last post, but here we go.
Books
- 📕 L'uomo che scambiò sua moglie per un cappello (Oliver Sacks): Italian edition of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat", a series of short stories focusing on people affected by peculiar neurological conditions. I've read another book from Sacks a looong time ago, "Musicophilia", which focused on auditive issues, and my January read of "Neurotribes" mentioned this book and Sacks himself made an appearance! Had it on my list for so long, it was about time I gave it a go.
Overall, I liked it. The fact that your reality is shaped by how your brain perceives drives me insane if I think too much about it, and this book really aggravated the situation. There's also an overwhelming sense of loneliness in knowing no one else shares your experience, but all the talk about accommodating people with different needs instead of trying to fix them was comforting. I was glad to read of those people who managed to live a fruitful life, surrounded by those they loved. - 📘 Vanishing Culture (The Internet Archive): Hey look, free book! This one's about the digital preservation of culture, a matter which is really stressing me out lately. It made me want to look into associations I can donate my old magazines to. How and when I'll do it is another matter. Anyway, there really is a lot I didn't even think about preserving, like punch cards for knitting, or handwritten notes on cookbooks... it's not a very long read and I really recommend it.
- 📗 L'ignoto ignoto (Mark Forsyth): Italian copy of "The Unknown Unknown", a very short book (paper-thin basically) that caught my eye as I was killing time before my next train at the station library. It's about things you don't know, which you're not aware of not knowing. A fun read and it made me think a lot despite being so short. There's a good argument for the importance of places where you can just find things you didn't know existed and are now interested in, and argues that the Internet doesn't serve that purpose as much as a library; I disagree, although I think you have to be aware of how you use the Internet for that. Did you know about this before now? Or maybe you need to check this out. I'd say it is easier to be curious inside a library, though.
- 📙 Non chiamarla arte (Austin Kleon): I love Austin Kleon! This is the Italian version of his latest book, which I found at the aforementioned library in the same occasion. There are some points I don't exactly agree with, as usual (I get you want to have fun, Kleon, but I also want to be very serious sometimes and I also don't like little kids), but it's a very nice read if you're someone who loves creating or is prone to second-guessing themselves.
- 📘 La galletta del marinaio (Silvia Pesaro): Very short book that caught my eye in a library in Genova. Look at how cute the cover is! It's about the sailor's bread (the titular galletta) and its history around the world, but mostly in Northern Italy (and in Liguria especially). Nice read, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got my same brainworms for food and culture.
- 📒 Art & Fear (David Bayles & Ted Orland): Fuck I loved this book so much. The best "book about art and creation" I've read this month, probably this year, and I had this on my list since... 2016? Took me 10 years, but what a fucking good book. I'll keep thinking of "Each new piece of your art enlarges our reality. The world is not yet done." any time I feel like giving up.
- 📘 La matematica degli dèi e gli algoritmi degli uomini (Paolo Zellini): This book was hard as shit but after reading in Sack's book about two twins capable of knowing prime numbers by heart without being able of doing basic addition I was HAUNTED by the thought of how much is math part of the natural world and how much of it is made up. The book's title means "The Mathematics of gods and the algorithms of men" in Italian, and I expected something difficult to grasp. What I did not expect was the need to be proficient in philosophy other than math, and I definitely am not. What I did understand, though, was very interesting! And I sort of got my answer: there is a lot of math all around us, we just uncoded how to spell part of it. Neat!
- 📕 Otherside Picnic 8 (Iori Miyazawa): HOLY SHIT THIS VOLUME. I was scared of its title ever since I read it years ago, expecting who knows what, and I don't want to spoil anything but it was incredible. Such a good focus on Sorawo's psychology, while also showing a lot of Toriko that was only hinted at until now. I love them both so much! I love Otherside Picnic!!
- 📗 Otherside Picnic 9 (Iori Miyazawa): It was hard to top volume 7 and 8, so this one starts much slower and takes its time really coming up with something meaningful. Then the last chapter, the longest one, focuses on Runa in a way that really made me appreciate her as a character, and it reminded me I should be fine trusting Iori Miyazawa.
- 📙 Il giro del mondo in 80 lingue (Veronica Repetti): It's a book about a bunch of foreign languages and their quirks, most less known than others, a bit more than 80 actually. Thing is, it's too many! I wish it focused more on a single one instead of dropping fun trivia (grouped by category) because it feels like I'm watching reels on the author's account (which is how I found out about the book in the first place). Every chapter focuses on some specific topic, such as phonetics, synonyms, sentence structure, and uses a story to keep you engaged as it jumps from language to language... but it often feels like the scripted monologue of someone with ADHD. Overall I liked it, but its structure made it hard to really get into it...
Movies
You might be shocked to know that we have watched no movies this month, despite wanting to go to the cinema. Our weekly movie night is barely monthly, lately!
Videogames
- 🎮 Hate Plus (PC): Another group playthrough! Overall, I think I like Analogue more but Hate Plus gives much needed space to *Mute. And I love the fact that it forces you to wait 3 real days! I like *Hyun-ae more, but her route is definitely lackluster in comparison to the others. It was nice to revisit the game so many years later, as it was for Analogue, but I didn't remember so many sex scenes. Now I kind of get where Star Sword Nemesis comes from. I should really find the courage to play Ladykiller in a Bind...
- 🎮 This War of Mine (Nintendo Switch): Wow what a quick drop! Simply said, I don't enjoy the gameplay and I'm not engaged enough in its storytelling to try and brave/learn the system. I got this game for free back in 2022 as a lot of people I know did, so I didn't feel too guilty about not giving it more time. Coincidentally, I picked it up after so long because a friend of mine told me she'd dropped it recently... and I wanted to see if it was the same for me.
- 🎮 Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (DEMO) (Nintendo Switch): I don't have the full game but I knew the demo was some sort of a prequel, and I've been feeling the call of Voice of Cards lately. Short, sweet, and I got over my initial disappointment of it not being "a card game" but "a game with cards". Will definitely play the whole series soon.
- 🎮 Metal Gear Solid (PSX): My lovely friend Peko is replaying the first three MGS games before the fourth one comes out from no-remaster hell, and since the first one was a game that tickled my curiosity ever since I was a teenager... I joined her! We accidentally (or not too much) paced ourselves the same way so we started it and finished it on the same days, and sharing the experience like that was very fun. I don't like this kind of games where I have to hide and shoot in a 3D space, but I melee'd my way out of it (and abused save states at the final boss) and the game design is so brilliant I was absolutely in for the ride. I thought I'd stop at the first one, but now I actually want to replay the second one! Probably together with my friend again, although maybe not so precisely paced.
The Good Stuff
This month, I only have this poem for you:
On the Birth of His Son
Families, when a child is born,
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister.
— Su Shi
Misc
- It was my birthday's month, and people who know me well enough know that I'm usually not doing great. It's not a secret I'm doing especially bad right now, actually, and you can pinpoint the recent relapse around three months ago when I started posting way less! I love deducing facts from data, it's my favourite pastime. I've had a long, lucky and grateful period of time in which my friends organized a small celebration for me, but this year I tried to take things into my own hands (I haven't done so in 20 years) and called a few friends to have lunch, spend some time together and then part ways. I am very grateful to them, and also to all the others who went out of their way to wish me a happy birthday. Last year it was a nightmare, but this one it was a bit easier.
- I've recorded a couple of covers without stressing too much over quality (or mixing). I missed singing. I wish I could go karaoke with someone...