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emlizzy's review
4.0
This easy collection is like the best kind of collage - disparate pieces (which actually have much more in common than may initially seem) come together to create a collection that is a beautiful composition - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This collection is really about discourse and thinking - how to interact with, think about, and process the world outside of ourselves.
As I read, I found myself in a near constant state of taking notes of things I wanted to look up and learn more about later (including revisiting my Sebald books through a new lens of appreciation). My amazon wishlist is also significantly longer than it was when I started.
Note: if literary criticism and discourse on the meaning/importance of photography and art doesn't interest you, this collection may not be for you.
As I read, I found myself in a near constant state of taking notes of things I wanted to look up and learn more about later (including revisiting my Sebald books through a new lens of appreciation). My amazon wishlist is also significantly longer than it was when I started.
Note: if literary criticism and discourse on the meaning/importance of photography and art doesn't interest you, this collection may not be for you.
healnotslay's review against another edition
4.0
Cole is undoubtedly a good writer but a lot of the topics are not related to my interests; he's too educated & into photography
it's interesting reading about racial relations & American/intl politics from a black person who immigrated to america
it's interesting reading about racial relations & American/intl politics from a black person who immigrated to america
lisagray68's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not much for short stories or essays -- a review of this book caught my eye and it is nice to pick up and read something short sometimes when you've got a lot of other stuff going on. Teju Cole is an intelligent writer and these are thoughtful essays on other writers and works of art and fiction, etc. But I'd always rather read longer works of fiction.
avadore's review
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!
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
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.