Audeamus.

07022025

Oh yes I went on a mad fetch quest yesterday to pick up my first record player!

I took a visit to my local record shop and picked up some light bits and pieces but I couldn’t be happier with it. Theres something really special about the physicality of it. The act of picking it up, taking it out and putting it onto the turntable.

Theres brief flickers of where the plots intertwine. The hints that seem to connect between one another.

The prose is witty and funny in places, I can see whole scenes play out in my head. The level of detail reminds me a lot of Disco Elysium.

I think it is really rare for a book to capture love the way that Patti Smith captures it in Just Kids. I think sometimes the general perception of love can be so prescriptive and confined by labels- but its always been a lot deeper that.

Just Kids Defines love as a connection so whole and complete that its the acceptance of a person without the dismissal of flaws. Its not really tangible, it goes beyond words or something entirely definable.

It resonated a lot with my connection with love, this idea that no one can really tell you what the 'right' way to love is. Its entirely individual a secret language between two individuals. It doesn't have to be a large gesture or confined by a ring. It can persist decades and defy personal revelations.

I think with a memoir there is the risk that you can linger too long on details and lose the pacing. The prose is so melodic, it washes over you and soaks through your skin like osmosis. It has a really good sense of flow that I found easy to digest and follow. It wasn't really surprising I finished the book in about three sittings.

Smith never lingers too long, there's such a strong pacing to the book that makes it feel more like a film of someone's life than a rigid retelling. Like a vignette of memories. Imbued with little snippets of the time, fashion, food and music.

On another personal matter the way that the book touches on creativity, particularly that a creative endeavour is really not defined by a single medium. As someone who used to draw prolifically and now only sometimes, I think it has a a certain reassurance that creativity is fluid and flows from one place to another. Its never static and grows with you as time goes on.

You can feel the tenderness through the book and I'm so glad I read it. An easy easy 5/5.

Moving into 2025 I have decided to commit to 12 books this year. With a focus on quality over quantity.

I completed my reading goal of 40 about mid-year last year and went on to read a total of 61. It wasn't intentional to read that many books but my pace seemed to fall back into the echo of a time in my life where I'd do nothing but read.

Now that I feel like the habit of reading comes more naturally to me I am keen to move away from a quantitive approach and focus on longer, challenging reads.

My main goal this year is to read 12 books with an average of over 400+ pages. Focusing on deeper reading with time to digest the books more. And I'm going to try to use books that are already on my shelves.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Septology - John Fosse

Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami

The Shards - Bret Easton Ellis

The Monk - Matthew Lewis

The Ebony Tower - John Fowles

Don Quixote - Cervantes

Life & Fate - Vasily Grossman

Possession - A.S Byatt

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki

The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas