#### The Years by Annie Ernaux January 31st I first learned of this book through [Beth McClelland’s site](https://www.bethmcclelland.com/p/best-content-pkm-journalling#annie-ernaux-the-years-and-l-usage-). Beth’s PKM and her life have changed because of this book. Beth collects and records what she refers to as the essence of the everyday, by which she means the tweets and books she reads, the movies she watches, significant events in the news — really anything that provides her day with context. Ernaux used decades of diaries and her memories of photos, books, songs, advertising etcetera to write a memoir of the collective. I wasn’t very interested in all of the political history of France and I’m not at all interested in tracking details of the world in my PKM. But this book was highly significant, for reasons I’ll be writing about in future notes. It also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022. #### I is an Other: The secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see the world by James Geary January 31st Terrific book if you enjoy word play, as I do. There are chapters on everything from metaphor in advertising, science and politics, to metaphors as parables and proverbs. I especially enjoyed the chapter on metaphor and psychology which offered an excellent summary of the *Metaphors in Mind* book I just finished. #### Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through symbolic modelling by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins January 27th Not a book for general use, but interesting for understanding how a psychotherapist’s careful use of [[Clean Language]] can support a client’s understanding and change of self-developed metaphors. A couple of useful ideas for my upcoming expert session in LYT. #### An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin January 24th A decent read that would make a good film. Nothing fancy, basic language and basic plot. #### The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne January 22nd Goodread reviews are all over the place on this one. My inability to stop reading it, the fact that I finished it at 4:00 a.m. says more than my stars rating. I agree with the reviewers who commented on their irritation with the parents. Sarah’s constant attempts to distract her daughter drove me to distraction. As did Angus’s seething rage and disappearance into alcohol. But if you stay with it, and there was certainly enough happening to hold my attention, every moment of character development makes sense in the end. #### Liars by Sarah Manguso January 18 An intense book that was difficult to put down even as it was sometimes difficult to stay afloat in the narrator’s painful life. I love Sarah Manguso’s writing. Her fragmentary style is perfect for the [[gaslighting]] John puts his wife through. And every so often, Manguso delivers an absolute zinger of an insight. Like this one — *Inflicting abuse isn’t the hard part. Controlling the narrative is the main job.* (P. 203) I’ve just bought a couple of other Manguso books. I want to stay in her style for a while. #### A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman January 13th While there were some interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout, I much preferred Ackerman’s *Deep Play* to this one. The language was a bit too flowery at times, there were frequent meanders that felt like they were only tangentially related to the sense being discussed, and since it’s a 1990 publication, virtual reality was still a pipe dream and some of the neuroscience is out of date. #### The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss January 2nd Buried in the acknowledgments at the back of the book is Adam Moss's vision for what The Work of Art might be. He hopes for *a sort of interactive museum of creativity, with exhibits and wall text and talk wafting through its corridors.* He pulls it off. I read fast, but that isn't an option here. I've been in this book for a month, reading one or two conversations a day. There's so much to take in -- visually, in the well-written text and, one of my favourite features, in the footnotes embedded at various places on the pages, linking one artist to another or Moss talking to us, the reader, as we meander through the rooms of his museum.  Other reviewers have commented on even-handed representation of racial and cultural groups, and a broad definition of artist from chef to sandcastle builder to painter or writer. There are more unfamiliar than familiar artists in these pages, which is a refreshing change. No old masters because Moss couldn't talk to them! There's a strong tilt to queer artists, often underrepresented in books about creativity and also part of Moss's community.  If you are interested in reading about how various artists think, and/or you want to see work in development from nothing to something, The Work of Art is highly recommended. One caution: Don't attempt this one as an ebook. You'd miss the interactive museum experience entirely. Enjoy the print book. It's gorgeous.