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avadore's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
A joy to keep by my bed and read 1-3 essays at a time when the mood took me.
marshamudpuddle's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
4.5
Since stumbling upon it while perusing the wonderful Mr B's bookshop in Bath (and buying it in order to finish reading the brilliant first essay, 'Black Body'), I've been making my way through this collection gradually over most of this year, taking in a few essays at a time when I was between books, which was a great way to read it. I'm sad I've finally run out!
Cole is a superb essayist, a master of the form. He is erudite, thoughtful, and engaging, with many of the pieces evolving in unexpected directions, or meandering into fascinating side-streets of thought. The book is split into three rough subject areas -- literature, photography, and travel -- and I found Cole equally insightful on all three, with many of his thoughts on one topic informing his thoughts on another. Technology, race, and violence are other recurring themes. Baldwin comes up repeatedly, and he seems an important influence on both the style and the thinking here. There are occasional experiments ('In Place of Thought', for example) but these are mostly quite traditional essays, each one taking its subject and chewing it over, reflecting on it, making judgements but not coming to any conclusion. Reading one is like having a conversation with an extremely interesting and knowledgable friend, someone you could listen to for hours.
I have not read any of Cole's fiction, but will now definitely make an effort to do so!
Cole is a superb essayist, a master of the form. He is erudite, thoughtful, and engaging, with many of the pieces evolving in unexpected directions, or meandering into fascinating side-streets of thought. The book is split into three rough subject areas -- literature, photography, and travel -- and I found Cole equally insightful on all three, with many of his thoughts on one topic informing his thoughts on another. Technology, race, and violence are other recurring themes. Baldwin comes up repeatedly, and he seems an important influence on both the style and the thinking here. There are occasional experiments ('In Place of Thought', for example) but these are mostly quite traditional essays, each one taking its subject and chewing it over, reflecting on it, making judgements but not coming to any conclusion. Reading one is like having a conversation with an extremely interesting and knowledgable friend, someone you could listen to for hours.
I have not read any of Cole's fiction, but will now definitely make an effort to do so!
livbness's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
pageglue's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
After just a few pages into this book, I had decided that Teju Cole was an auto-buy author for me. Known and Strange Things is an essay collection divided into 4 sections: Reading Things (book and poetry reviews), Seeing Things (art, photography and film reviews and observations), Being There (travel writing/essays on political situations in certain places), and an Epilogue.
Cole is a wickedly good writer. Every single essay ranged from good to very excellent. He is also a photographer, and his educational background is in art history. He was born in America but grew up in Nigeria: “I was born American, but I also had to learn to become American… My understanding of American experience has mostly been from the point of view of a recent African immigrant.” He writes with keen insight and compassion, and he has an impressively broad and deep knowledge of literature and art which he draws from and incorporates into his writing with the fluid grace of a rower’s oar. Cole and I have very different tastes in books and media, but I loved reading what he was interested in and why. His reviews left me thinking, ‘I don’t think I’d enjoy that book/movie, but man that was a great review.’ I loved most his writings on photography and on the artist as curator. He also introduced me to a lot of great artists/photographers and their work has really stayed with me.
Cole is a wickedly good writer. Every single essay ranged from good to very excellent. He is also a photographer, and his educational background is in art history. He was born in America but grew up in Nigeria: “I was born American, but I also had to learn to become American… My understanding of American experience has mostly been from the point of view of a recent African immigrant.” He writes with keen insight and compassion, and he has an impressively broad and deep knowledge of literature and art which he draws from and incorporates into his writing with the fluid grace of a rower’s oar. Cole and I have very different tastes in books and media, but I loved reading what he was interested in and why. His reviews left me thinking, ‘I don’t think I’d enjoy that book/movie, but man that was a great review.’ I loved most his writings on photography and on the artist as curator. He also introduced me to a lot of great artists/photographers and their work has really stayed with me.
failedimitator's review against another edition
3.0
I liked "Reading Things". "Seeing Things" was a bit difficult for me to read because I don't know nearly enough about photography and art history, and I felt the writing itself didn't have anything else to carry me through. But "Being There" was incredible and if the book was just that, I'd give it five stars easy.
fluentinsilence's review against another edition
4.0
lang wilde ik dit drie sterren geven. deel I, Dingen lezen is best de moeite waarde maar de teksten zijn me eigenlijk te kort (vaak maar twee-en-een-halve pagina o.i.d.). deel II (Dingen zien) begint sterk met het stuk ‘Naamloos meer’ maar bevat veel teksten die niet mijn interesse hebben (fotografie-related), en wederom te kort van stuk zijn.
Teju Cole is in zijn essay op z'n best als hij niet per sé duidt, maar gewoon aanwezig is en observeert, bijvoorbeeld wanneer hij Sebalds graf bezoekt. (of ideeën uitwerkt, overigens. dan wel zijn eigen ideeën.) in deel III van dit boek, getiteld Aanwezig zijn is Cole dan ook op z'n best. hij schrijft dan over Kony 2012, Nigeria, zijn tegenstrijdige gevoelens rondom de president-verkiezingen in 2008, toen Obama voor 't eerst werd verkozen.
ook schrijft hij over de Amerikaans-Mexicaanse grens waar veel mensen omkomen bij een enorme muur die volgens Cole om strategische redenen niet af is (hoop/ wanhoop). hij vertelt wat er gebeurt met mensen die elders verdwijnen en hier bij die grens naamloos verschijnen, onherkenbaar vaak ook, soms kan men niet eens vaststellen of het om een man of vrouw gaat. Cole beschrijft vervolgens de begraafplaatsen, die waar de locals ten ruste worden gelegd: een groen paradijs vol altijdgroene bomen die veel schaduw bieden, & de begraafplaats voor de gevonden wanhopigen, een beeld dat me niet loslaat: een stoffig veld waar zich afval ophoopt, weinig groen, kleine, jonge bomen.
Cole vraagt zich zelf ergens af: Hoeveel dingen zien we allemaal niet, tenzij ons erover wordt verteld? ja. dat is dan ook waarom veel van zijn verhalen in het derde deel me zo aanspreken, waarom dit boek toch vier sterren moet geven. dit zijn verhalen die er toe doen.
kortom: zeer blij dit gelezen te hebben.
(het is overigens niet waar dat er over Virginia Woolf wordt geschreven. ze komt twee keer voorbij: één keer wordt de eerste zin van haar Mrs. Dalloway overgenomen en in een ander essay leest Cole Woolfs dagboeken. dat is het. teleurstellend, aangezien Woolf volgens de blurb een onderwerp is in dit boek.)
(fragment: https://winterlief.blogspot.nl/2016/09/naamloos-meer-teju-cole.html)
Teju Cole is in zijn essay op z'n best als hij niet per sé duidt, maar gewoon aanwezig is en observeert, bijvoorbeeld wanneer hij Sebalds graf bezoekt. (of ideeën uitwerkt, overigens. dan wel zijn eigen ideeën.) in deel III van dit boek, getiteld Aanwezig zijn is Cole dan ook op z'n best. hij schrijft dan over Kony 2012, Nigeria, zijn tegenstrijdige gevoelens rondom de president-verkiezingen in 2008, toen Obama voor 't eerst werd verkozen.
ook schrijft hij over de Amerikaans-Mexicaanse grens waar veel mensen omkomen bij een enorme muur die volgens Cole om strategische redenen niet af is (hoop/ wanhoop). hij vertelt wat er gebeurt met mensen die elders verdwijnen en hier bij die grens naamloos verschijnen, onherkenbaar vaak ook, soms kan men niet eens vaststellen of het om een man of vrouw gaat. Cole beschrijft vervolgens de begraafplaatsen, die waar de locals ten ruste worden gelegd: een groen paradijs vol altijdgroene bomen die veel schaduw bieden, & de begraafplaats voor de gevonden wanhopigen, een beeld dat me niet loslaat: een stoffig veld waar zich afval ophoopt, weinig groen, kleine, jonge bomen.
Cole vraagt zich zelf ergens af: Hoeveel dingen zien we allemaal niet, tenzij ons erover wordt verteld? ja. dat is dan ook waarom veel van zijn verhalen in het derde deel me zo aanspreken, waarom dit boek toch vier sterren moet geven. dit zijn verhalen die er toe doen.
kortom: zeer blij dit gelezen te hebben.
(het is overigens niet waar dat er over Virginia Woolf wordt geschreven. ze komt twee keer voorbij: één keer wordt de eerste zin van haar Mrs. Dalloway overgenomen en in een ander essay leest Cole Woolfs dagboeken. dat is het. teleurstellend, aangezien Woolf volgens de blurb een onderwerp is in dit boek.)
(fragment: https://winterlief.blogspot.nl/2016/09/naamloos-meer-teju-cole.html)
shallihavemydwarf's review against another edition
3.0
I had a lot of the same feelings about this book that I did about Neil Gaiman's View from the Cheap Seats. Both books attempt to package disperate or homeless essays, many of which probably should have just stayed on the author's blog. Cole waves a hand to purposefulness in his preface, but to very little noticeable effect.
Cole is unquestionably a more intelligent writer than Gaiman, and a few of these essays were quite good. I particularly enjoyed the one on Julius Caesar. If you happen to have a well-rounded background in photography, this book may be a great fit for you. So many of the included essays are photography related, that I wonder why Cole didn't simply choose to write a book on that topic, especially given his background in art history.
Cole is unquestionably a more intelligent writer than Gaiman, and a few of these essays were quite good. I particularly enjoyed the one on Julius Caesar. If you happen to have a well-rounded background in photography, this book may be a great fit for you. So many of the included essays are photography related, that I wonder why Cole didn't simply choose to write a book on that topic, especially given his background in art history.
mugren's review against another edition
1.0
The topics in this book weren't for me, nor was his style of writing.