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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Please go buy this book. I found myself grinning, nodding, and occasionally pumping the air with my fist as I devoured these pages. Such a refreshing and exciting series of reflections- no, exaltations - about some of the most complex and important tenets of the good life. I can’t wait to read it again.
“No matter how viciously or vehemently we perceive it, art persists, and try as we might, we cannot consume it. We could scarcely lick the lines of poems we love. We read and recite writing without wearing out its eloquence. Art is nourishment that never spoils, that regenerates itself.” (p. 157, “Having a Cake and Eating it Too”)
“No matter how viciously or vehemently we perceive it, art persists, and try as we might, we cannot consume it. We could scarcely lick the lines of poems we love. We read and recite writing without wearing out its eloquence. Art is nourishment that never spoils, that regenerates itself.” (p. 157, “Having a Cake and Eating it Too”)
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
this book is not exactly what i expected. I guess I expected it to be about excess and I expected it to be more personal. This is 95% cultural criticism and it is less about excess and more against equality or egalitarianism, specifically in respect to sex and love and writing. i did not expect it to be so much about love or for rothfeld to be so much of a romantic (albeit in an intellectual, ex-debater way), which i found charming though often a bit cloying. rothfeld takes a long time with her essays in a technical, methodological way that is very skillful and sometimes a bit dry and plodding for me, but the ideas she comes to and builds, brick by brick, are often wonderful.
regarding her ideas, there was a lot i could relate to and resonate with. however, rothfeld has a tendency to make grand sweeping gestures and claims with her ideas that do often seem pretty particular to her and people of her experience, some which i share (being in semi intellectual leftist circles), and some which i do not ( being a white cishet woman). in particular, her blind spots wrt queerness and race left me at best eye rolly and at worst pretty frustrated with her willful ignorance of other texts and people, especially when she’s thinking through ideas about equality and egalitarianism.. in particular, i found her brief toe into gay bathhouse culture so laughably utopic and clueless, like a straight woman going to a gay bar for her bachelorette party. but at least she acknowledged queerness, whereas race just felt like a glaring hole she was constantly skirting around. still, when she shines, she is radiant and i do appreciate in a book about excess her writing is often lush, gross, and sensual (especially in those too rare brilliant moments where she writes about herself).
regarding her ideas, there was a lot i could relate to and resonate with. however, rothfeld has a tendency to make grand sweeping gestures and claims with her ideas that do often seem pretty particular to her and people of her experience, some which i share (being in semi intellectual leftist circles), and some which i do not ( being a white cishet woman). in particular, her blind spots wrt queerness and race left me at best eye rolly and at worst pretty frustrated with her willful ignorance of other texts and people, especially when she’s thinking through ideas about equality and egalitarianism.. in particular, i found her brief toe into gay bathhouse culture so laughably utopic and clueless, like a straight woman going to a gay bar for her bachelorette party. but at least she acknowledged queerness, whereas race just felt like a glaring hole she was constantly skirting around. still, when she shines, she is radiant and i do appreciate in a book about excess her writing is often lush, gross, and sensual (especially in those too rare brilliant moments where she writes about herself).
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The anti-minimalist manifesto of my dreams. Rothfeld inspired me to think bigger, more complex thoughts and I'm so grateful
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
medium-paced
Is the process of waiting the transformation of time into misery? What would happen if we redesigned society with no inkling of the positions that we, ourselves, would fill? Did Marie Kondo reinvent the novel? Is that good? If you are ravenous for life, if there is no end to the things you are not, if you must “graze each word once,” check out All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess by Washington Post non-fiction book critic Becca Rothfeld. Whether you believe in letting people enjoy things or that we must “like this or die,” opt for more. Consider the consequences of equalizing everything but wealth and democratizing culture while leaving larger political inequalities firmly in place. Grant that we are not what we consume. We are not whales or words or others, and we may not be ourselves. Allow yourself to graze words twice. Essays of this caliber? More, please. Let’s have another helping.
slow-paced
An engaging read that was nonetheless slow-going
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
informative
reflective
One of the best essay collections I've read. Rothfeld's writing is incredible and compelling. The central thesis of the book is one that I found provocative and compelling and has be considering my relationship with minimalism. I will say, though, the essay on mindfulness and meditation felt substantial worse than the others, and Rothfeld herself commits many of the things she later criticises of other authors in her essay on consent. Still, highly recommended.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced