Booknotes 4.17

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, by Austin Kleon, published 2014, nonfiction. Another reread for the log. This one didn’t resonate with me as much but was still worthwhile. I still wrestle with whether I want to do this — posting about in-progress work or not — and most of the time I end up on the side of squirreling myself away until the toiling is done and then and only then showing the work. But I do want to try to write more about process.

The History of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of Monmouth (translated by Aaron Thompson & J. A. Giles), written/published 1136 (translated 1848), fantasy. This initially felt like history but turned out to be mostly fanciful, which admittedly threw my brain for a loop a few times in the first half. I’d also completely forgotten that this book is part of the Matter of Britain, so color me surprised and delighted when Uther Pendragon showed up later on. It’s very early Arthurian cycle, though, with no round table, no Lancelot or Galahad or Gawain, just warlord Arthur and prophetic Merlin and a smidge of adventure and the supernatural. And then it moves on to other kings post-Arthur. Enjoyed it.

Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy, by Henry Farrell & Abraham Newman, published 2023, nonfiction. A fascinating look at how the United States has used its centrality in international finance (in the actual financial systems converting foreign currencies to and from dollars) as a weapon against certain other nations and entities. Learned a lot. And my, how things have changed since 2023.

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, by Austin Kleon, published 2019, nonfiction. The third of Kleon’s books. Short and inspiring and it made me want to make art. I can see myself rereading this and Steal Like an Artist every couple years.