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Book Completed - Not Without Laughter

david@davidsmedberg.me (David Smedberg) — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 16:58:42 +0000

I just logged that I'm no longer reading Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes. I Finished the book.

Here are my comments:

I loved this book. Heartfelt and compassionate for each character, even the ones, like his mother's oldest sister, whose negative attitudes clearly bother him. I know some readers were put off by the fact that it doesn't have a clear "beginning, middle, end" structure. But I think this genre, "fictionalized autobiographical novel about growing up", is becoming one of my favorites, and this is such a perfect example of the genre. I don't expect it to be anything but what it is.

The book I am beginning or resuming now is Phantoms, by Dean Koontz.

Book Completed - You are Not Your Own

david@davidsmedberg.me (David Smedberg) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 02:37:34 +0000

I just logged that I'm no longer reading You are Not Your Own, by O Alan Noble. I Finished the book.

Here are my comments:

There's a great deal good about this cri de coeur. In its explanation of what our age inhumane, it teases out details I haven't seen elaborated well before. These details include (1) how "technique" encompasses emotional skillfulness as well as conquering science or history (2) how the natural response to negative experiences of modern society may be "resignation", not rebellion. So we see temptations to strive ever harder on the hand, and on the other to opt out, as a natural effect of a system designed to make us think we must provide our own meaning. It's a very good pair with Strange Rites. The thread connecting both is it how worship of self is more common than ever. I'm also really glad I read Man's Search for Meaning first, and if you haven't, I recommend it even more highly. It's possible that Noble's very Protestant language and emphases made some parts not land as well as they could. He takes pains, for example, to explain why what might seem like slavery is a different kind of possession, but the notion of self-gift is so ingrained in me that I wasn't sure why we even needed that discussion. Further, the same discussion of "technique" I mentioned earlier gets muddled, because he focuses so strongly on God's beneficence that there's little sense of natural goods. What I mean is: he says over and over that e.g. marriage is good because ordained by God (true!) but you don't need to know or embrace God's lordship in order to know this, because God planted it in our hearts and consciences!

The book I am beginning or resuming now is Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett.

Book Completed - Guards! Guards!

david@davidsmedberg.me (David Smedberg) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 02:37:33 +0000

I just logged that I'm no longer reading Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett. I Finished the book.

Here are my comments:

Reconnecting with Commander Vimes is on my summer reading list. I'll be honest, I am partly just in it to revisit Carrot and Lady Sybil, who are the true heroes of his tales. Interesting how, when I was younger, the Patrician's loathsomeness, and effectiveness, didn't horrify me nearly as much.

The book I am beginning or resuming now is Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes.