The Guston is very appropriate; there is a lot of smoking in the book. Each chapter is based around the smoking of a particular cigar and the memories that it evokes...

It's beyond frosty here in the south of Sweden. But the driveway has been shovelled and now I can continue with this gem from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social

Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson (2018, Svenska / Swedish)

Important stories, thank you for sharing. Less importantly, reading this helped me solve one of this morning's cryptic crossword clues: Island resident, a man, holding group back (7) = Maltese.

I grew up in Tasmania and now live in rural Sweden... I get it too.

Is it 'the services of theology, which as everyone knows is small and ugly and must be kept out of sight.' (I also like that they are all facing backwards, towards the past, not the future...)

Actually, this is Danish, but the Swedish looks the same...

The Swedish edition of her book New Forest is really beautiful... Maybe I should just read that...

Beautiful book. A few years ago, I sent my copy to a friend on the other side of the planet who I thought I should read it. I almost regret it as I would like to read it again. I later saw a fantastic show she curated at the glyptotek in Copenhagen, I wish I had bought the catalogue to that as well.

Thank you, both for taking the time to read and for your kind words. Fosse and Beckett are certainly touchstones, among others, but it is still humbling to be mentioned along with them... The discipline of consistency is perhaps the most difficult lesson.

My favourite version of gingerbread is Hildegard von Bingen's (enough nutmeg to make your dreams psychedelic):
www.st-hildegard.com/en/spelt/spe...

Another one that I discovered on moving abroad was 'rort'. I have never found an alternative that is quite as succinct and precise.

I dug out my Christmas cake recipe yesterday to start preparing. In fairness, a good cake does require months of soaking in brandy...

Fantastic film! Isn't it the same horse that Nietzsche embraced in his breakdown...?

I think of the tormented horse in the history of philosophy: Nietzsche's embrace and collapse, Schopenhauer distressed at the sound of a whip outside his window, Freud speculating on the fear Little Hans has of collapsing horses... Will this horse help me think, is that something terrible.

I imagine a great wall of bare earth, taller than me, all of it carried there from elsewhere in the garden. Everything that has decomposed.

Thanks for thinking of us. I am still mourning the loss of access to Sounds and the possibility of listening on catch-up... Keep up the great work!

To make the counter argument, Die Spitz weren't even born when Mellon Collie... was released, they have an album coming out on Friday and they are brilliant! (bonus points for a great Twin Peaks inspired video)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2fI...