Patti's poem 'Grant' about her Dad was my favourite from this collection. I really love how she writes, even if her ideas are a little abstract at times. 

The edgy punk poems kind of give me a bit of a giggle at times. Just becuase I can imagine some of the art students I know saying similar things to what Patti writes about as a young woman.

I love her poems about art, artists and I love seeing little echoes of the people in her life in her poetry after reading all of her memoirs. Maybe this is my sign to reread Just Kids hahaha

While I've always been interested in politics and history, this was my first venture into the world of economics. Becuase Yanis Varoufakis writes with such clarity and explains concepts so well, this wasn't a problem at all. This book did a great job explain market societies, how politics and economics interact, how capitalism and colonialism happen and imagines how the markets could eventually become more democratised in the future and how this could help our current climate and environmenal crisis. This is all explained by Yanis for his teenaged daughter as a guide and warning for her going forward into a world but still gives hope that people have the power to change how capitalism rules in society. 

This is one of those books that hits you like a sack of spuds. While the story isn't particularly complex, it's so wholesome and the characters are some of the most lovable and well crafted that I have encountered in a long time. Ove is such a wonderful character, so cantankerous with a heart of gold that comes out almost always by complete accident. His love for his late wife is so palpable throughout the novel without being in any way overly sentimental or sappy.  It's also such a great story about multigenerational friendships and found families. The relationship that Ove forms with Parvaneh and her familiy is just beautiful! 

Some particularly lovely quotes: 

"People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had."

"All people at root are time optimists. We always think there's enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like 'if'."

"Something inside a man goes to pieces when he has to bury the only person who understood him. There's no time to heal from that sort of wound." 

"It's been six months since she died. But Ove still inspects the whole house twice a day to feel the radiators and check that she hasn't sneakily turned up the heating."

"Now you listen to me," says Ove calmly while he carefully closes the door. "You've given birth to two children and quite soon will be squeezing out a third. You've come here from a land far away and most likely you fled war and persecution and all sorts of other nonsense. You've learned a new language and got yourself an education and you're holding together a family of obvious incompetents. And I'll be damned if I've seen you afraid of a single bloody thing in this world before now....I'm not asking for brain surgery. I'm asking you to drive a car. It's got an accelerator, a brake and a clutch. Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how it works. And you will as well." And then he utters seven words, which Parvaneh will always remember as the loveliest compliment he'll ever give her. "Because you are not a complete twit.""

The writing style reminded me a lot of Joan Didion. I enjoyed how viserally Veronica Gornick described New York, her feelings of isolation, her relationship with Leonard and her mother, and the complexity of friendship and how this changes through life. I really connected with some parts, other parts I found tone deaf and a bit pretentious. Good overall though. 

Some quotes that I underlined: 

"I've always been pulled around by forces beyond my control. I'd do what people expect of me, and then I'd get anxious. For years I knew no condition but anxiety. One day I realised that the anxiety had formed me. After that there was no surprises." 

"In useful solitude I am there, keeping myself imaginative company, breathing life into the silence, filling the room with proof of my own sentient being." 

Read to finish a Discourse Analysis essay on narrative. Pretty useful.