Kai

Full of great anecdotes that introduce ideas in neuroscience. It's a book that's good for a beginner with an interest in neuroplasticity. It's over a decade old so the information may be outdated, but overall the content was fascinating. It insipires hope when one learns about people missing half of their brain and continuing to live successful and fulfilling lives.

Factotum chronologically follows Ham on Rye. As we witness a Chinaski in his early 20s he bums around the states working one shit job after another. As usual it's full of rage and resentment with brief comic relief, it's fun to see the eyes of the world through Bukowski, if anyone's ever worked a string of dead end jobs then you'll find a kindred spirit in this book. The misery, boozing and self destruction is unrelenting and it feels a bit repetitive after a while. It was a fun read with good writing but that was about it.

My favourite piece of writing by Bukowski so far. He probably wrote Ham on Rye when he reached and age that removed him from his bitter rage that pervades his other novels. It's filled with cynical wit and a perspective of how Bukowski was an outsider since early childhood. My first bildungsroman that I actually enjoyed, it was a good time.

Crime and Punishment throws you into a dark, danky world where a fetid rot emanates from each page. I would read the book, put it down and get the feeling that a thin layer of grease had covered me head to toe. I can understand it's appeal and reverence through the years but I found it difficult to settle into the prose and tangential conversation. Dostoevsky puts you right in the mind of Rodin, it's a little unsettling how immersed you are in the mind of the protagonist. This was a grind, glad to have completed it and emerge intact.

My first Bukowski novel. It was full of rage and good writing, cynicism and brief moments where the hero gets the upper hand. A good novel to relax to after a stressful day.

There are some gem stories in here. Overall I got the impression that Thompson's wrote a lot of this while coked out of his mind. He takes a strong stance for individual rights and admonishes authority throughout, to the point where it got a bit boring. It would have been cool to have more anecdotes from the 20th century (or his foreign correspondence days)

Lawrence's commentary on English industrial society is pointed and vitriolic. It's clear he sympathises with the working class and disdains upper class hubris. It was useful having background on the time period from reading Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier and Hommage to Catalonia. Both Lawrence and Orwell share similar perspectives on the pernicious impacts of industrialisation, consumerist society and the consequential demise of romanticism and celebration of the human spirit. The period is a pretty fascinating one as it seemed that the old aristocracy were on their last legs, recognising (albeit reluctantly) their irrelevance in a society that was growing to recognise modern ideas of social mobility and egalitarianism. The characters felt a bit one dimensional, each one having a strong point of view, never really questioning their own perspectives. The novel is a sucker for romantics, with a lot of romantic literary techniques used by Shelley, Eliot and what not. Overall, I liked Lawrence's criticism on social injustice and entrenched class norms in modern England but found myself eye rolling at the shallow characters and cliche romantic narrative. I appreciated the provocative language and (for its time) unconventional focus on a woman's sexual desires and sexual fulfilment.