Serial Hobbiest
Refused to decide, so I'm doing it all
The Anthropocene Reviewed – Buddy Read Write-up Eight (of Nine)
Moments of moments, we’ve actually finished the book. I am, as per usual, merely late with writing this thing up, so I come to you from the future and, surprisingly, a change of opinion not yet discussed with Marie from Marie Reads Books.
You see, Marie and I discussed this batch of pages on the 9th of October. That’s a while ago now, but I have some notes from that conversation to jog my memory. Point is, we were both feeling rather negative about the whole thing.
Thoughts, in summary, went something like this:
- Plague – oh my god, longest, most boring, essay yet. Barely any of his own words.
- Wintry Mix – like the word ‘graupel’. Never heard of it before. Between the groundhog and the weather, however, kinda over it.
- The Hot Dogs of Bæjarins Betzu Pylsur – why, why, for the love of god why another essay about hot dogs.
- The Notes App – hmm… don’t hate this one. Interesting ideas around forgotten snippets of thoughts.
- The Mountain Goats – biggest waste of a single sheet of paper I’ve ever had to read.
Of course, Plague is now slowly becoming one of my favourites. The Hot Dogs of Bæjarins Betzu Pylsur was never really about a hot dog and, well, no. Mountain Goats is still shit.
Plague
This one is taking me somewhat by surprise and, if I’m honest, a piece of writing that continues to work in the back of my mind when I thought I’d moved on is something I kind of live for. I love it when a piece of writing refuses to be left in the past because there’s something nagging to be considered in more depth.
It might well be that we are living in a world so closely linked to that in the essay, which was John Green’s point, but it’s also that we’re not learning. Not from our mistakes, not from our successes and not, it turns out, from the deaths of our people.
It’s true that Green quoted a lot of other people in this essay, but I am grateful for it, as I otherwise never would have read the words:
When people say, ‘we have made it through worse before’, […] all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones of those who did not make it.
Clint Smith, as quoted in Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
It might be because I am currently recovering from becoming symptomatic around two weeks ago and am feeling pretty lucky to be recovering, but the reality of what we’ve been through these past three years is rather grim. And sadly, not very original.
I suppose the thing about this book, is that there are very specific themes that are extraordinarily relevant to what’s happening today, right now. In the midst of this week, those are the essays spinning around in my mind. In the past month, we’ve broken the same flooding record twice within a two-week period. We’ve had thunderstorm asthma rear it’s ugly little head again, and in late spring, I’m turning on the heater as, occasionally, we’re sitting in single digits as far as our temperature is concerned (Celsius).
I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m still thinking about the themes running their way through this book and some are starting to stand out more starkly. In part because life is still living this book, but also because the highlights of these essays remain the moments where the human experience meets personal experience. I guess I’m expanding my expectations around the personal experience described within this work.
This batch of essays is still sitting at two and a half stars for me, but Plague on it’s own has moved up to a four out of five.
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Serial Hobbiest 
It’s great that you’re actually getting something out of this book, even if it’s now, after we’ve finished reading it. I haven’t thought about it at all since I finished writing my last blog post and I’m happier that way. lol
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