Better Than Friday - 21

Good morning everyone.

The Best of 2019 will be coming soon, however you can get the goods before I shoot the video. My top 5 were as follows, in order. 

5. Karl Ove Knausgard - My Struggle: 2 (A tie with Pirandello's 'One, No One, and One hundred Thousand')

4. Disgrace - J.M Coetzee 

3. Don Carpenter - Hard Rain Falling 

2. Machado De Assis - Epitatph of a Small Winner 

1. Javier Marias - A Heart So White 

Any and all are fantastic books. 

1. To Be Read - 'The Unknown Masterpiece' by Honoré de Balzac  

This will be my first Balzac novel. 

From the back:

'the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure, or a transcendental genius - or both.'

Pablo Picasso called it "Marvelous".

2. One of the most intense albums I've ever heard
I'll admit initially I thought this was a little overwrought, but after a few listens of tracks on this album, this is one of the most devastating/terrifying things I've heard in a long time. 

Relentlessly vicious, emotionally overwhelming and simultaneously gorgeous. 

Do not listen if you want to be in a good mood. 

If you need something to cathartically exorcise some existential demons, well...

Look no further. 

3. Sometimes I drool over brutalist houses and ideas for the space for a bookstore...
Hey, one can dream, no? There's something very appealing about a house made of concrete and glass.

4. A Character I Find Fascinating 

This guy was responsible for killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, which led to World War 1. 

To think of everything that has come since then...

5. David Allen's Cult of Hyperefficiency 

This fellow is not the stereotypical 'self-help' archetype. 

David Allen is responsible for developing a terrific system for productivity. 

Bonus, attached below: One of the greatest essays I have ever read. 

Michel Houellebecq's 'To Stay Alive'.

Completely vicious, but if you're in the mood of trying to hold on to a semblance of sanity in the middle of an artistic failure or existential crisis, top-notch reading. 

"A dead poet does not write. Whence the importance of staying alive." 

Extra Bonus: 

An fantastic 'Best Albums of 2019' playlist from an awesome patron named Bryan:
open.spotify.com/playlist/0IvXjFo7kkyvDa2C4EDX6B?si=U_Mi2uTdRx-ei5ELi6I87g