Reviews and Comments

Quoted in Moten & Harney's All Incomplete and I loved the quote so have added this.

This short book covers more ground than it ought to. In six chapters, Putnam draws connections between photographic media, camgirls, streamed acts of political resistance and COVID-19 performance artworks through online media. It is a breadth of information and interesting connections, underpinned by the socio-technological philosophy of Gilbert Simondon.

Putnam is a thoughtful author, and leaves scope for different readings and space for different bodies to understand this book. The relationship between artist->camera->transfer infrastructure->screen->audience as it has unfolded over the past 30 years is taken into consideration and leaves lots of room for thought. As a research project, it is comprehensive and clear, and an enjoyable read.

Starting this early. A Christmas present from my partner's parents, for the darker winter nights.

Heaney's most famous collection is split into two parts, written when he was young. The second is the one he is often best known for: poems of the Troubles in Northern Ireland that reveal the harsh realities of trying to live in those times. Most of these, and some more nationalist moments in the first part, haven't aged particularly well.

The ones that do work very well are the poems about nature, or those many about the lives of the humans that became bog bodies. These are amazing works that thrum with the voice of a poet who deserved every accolade.

Moten and Harney always bring me to new places with their writing. A friend told me this had come out a couple of years ago, and I put it on a list. I boight it last year so am finally giving it some time.

Excited to read this book, by an academic who I admire and a friend who I value.

I loved Ní Dochartaigh's Thin Places and looked forward to her next. My partner gifted this to me for my birthday in 2023.

Annie Ernaux explains how shame has influenced her life in a short memoir. It begins with the climax: 'My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon'. From there, Ernaux explores her rural childhood in a post-war French village, and how this event and the fear of community shame stayed with her even nearly 50 years later.

It's hard to criticise something so personal, but the language is a little mechanical, perhaps because of the numbness created over time. It is also hard to understand the motivation for the book being published (I often feel this with memoirs so it may be my bias), but it did paint an interesting picture of a community that lived on gossip and thus hid their lives, something I have seen in my own life.

Long-term fan of McCarthy and I loved the companion book The Passenger so got this from the library.

Gifted to me by my brother at Christmas 2022, and overdue a read. I love Moore's worldview but have never managed to read one of his novels through. Giving this a go.

In Tokens, Rachel O'Dwyer tells a story of value through tokens, alternative objects of payment that operate outside of legal currencies. The book blends years of in-depth research with clever use of anecdote and a well considered structure of 9 chapters, each telling a different part of the story.

While the overarching theme of the book deals with contemporary digital technologies such as NFT artworks or video game trading currencies, there is plenty of room given to histories and cultures of tokens than just these recent phenomena. O'Dwyer blends art history, economics, feminist theory and technology to present tokens in everything from subversive economies to hyper-capitalist systems. Brilliantly written throughout, and overloaded with information that is a testament to a long and thoughtful research practice.

Added after reading this quote.

Randomly chose this as I wanted to try a book by Ernaux. Got it from the library. Heard about her after she won the Nobel Prize.