Reading List: Chlorine Gardens

December 9, 2019

I don’t have much time today (it was bound to happen) but I can still throw something out there as part of the reading list. We’re almost there. Tomorrow is Human Rights Day.

Chlorine Gardens
by Keiler Roberts

Dealing with pregnancy, child-rearing, art-making, mental illness, and an MS diagnosis, the parts of Chlorine Gardens’ sum sound heavy, but Keiler Roberts’ gift is the deft drollness in which she presents life’s darker moments. She doesn’t whistle past graveyards, but rather finds the punch line in the pitiful.

“If the Good Lord made me bipolar on purpose, it must be because he’s (she’s? they’re?) bipolar. That’s the only way to explain how consistently great and terrible His creations are. Now that I’ve figured that out, maybe I do believe in God. I can imagine creating cancer on my darkest day, and then the Grand Canyon to make up for it.”

art and fashion

Andrea Pazienza — They Don’t Always Die

At the beginning of this month, I was in Rome with some friends: we had heard that Danny Elfman himself was going to be on stage at the Auditorium, performing some pieces from his soundtracks, and we’re hardcore fans (I have mixed feelings about the

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architecture, engineering and construction

Alas, it’s not parametric

Last week, in a fit of despair, I published a piece that touched on a few questions around open formats and proprietary formats, specifically asking whether it was legitimate or advisable for a contracting authority to require the delivery of a model in proprietary format

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books and literature

Yukio Mishima’s Death in Midsummer

I only knew Yukio Mishima for his Confessions of a Mask, so I had no idea of his extraordinary range and this collection of short stories was a pleasant surprise. Sure, you have death, as the titular tale suggests and way beyond, including the detailed

July 5, 2026 9:00 am