Comments on: César Aira: How I Became a Nun

By: The Mookse and the Gripes » César Aira: The Seamstress and the Wind

The Mookse and the Gripes » César Aira: The Seamstress and the Wind — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:02:30 +0000

[...] worms invading a city notwithstanding, I’d still say that How I Became a Nun (my review here) was the strangest Aira I’d read — until now. So it was nice to learn that when The [...]

By: How I Became a Nun and Came to Terms with my Limitations as a Book Reviewer « Tony's Book World

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:47:29 +0000

[...] that ‘How I Became a Nun’ got a grade of A- in Complete Review and was positively reviewed by The Mookse and the Gripes. My ultimate quest is to find a contemporary South American writer that I like as much as the many [...]

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:56:08 +0000

You got me, Kevin. I was thinking that maybe your laptop didn’t refresh the image, but I’m not sure why it would refresh everything else. I’m not too smart in this area, but maybe it’s a setting on your internet browser on your laptop.

The good news for your laptop: this gravatar is only temporary. Though just how temporary, I don’t know, because I’m still trying to find a decent one that integrates the site’s name and bookish theme without looking like someone else’s.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:19:44 +0000

Okay, here’s my technology-related question. On my desk computer, I get what I think is your new avatar (the text on the sandy background). On my laptop, I still get the old one. Is there an explanation?

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:36:57 +0000

It worked! Thanks, Kevin. That looks so much better. And now I’m going to have to avoid the urge to go through and edit all of my posts and comments!

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:36:24 +0000

That’s how I do it in Word, but it’s never worked in my posts. Let’s see if it works in my comments — like that.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:25:38 +0000

All I do for dashes is “space hyphen-hyphen space” as in — like that. I wonder (this is a test) if you are leaving out the spaces–like this.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:20:28 +0000

You know, Kevin, I wrote “different from” and “different than” both in the review above and I thought, I wonder if anyone knows the difference! I actually do know the difference, when I think about it, from my own editing days (just about over—sending the last book to the printer today, in fact!). I put it in inadvertently the first time and then chose not to edit it because I couldn’t quite remember the rule at the moment. It wasn’t out of a sense of being tricky—I was actually just being lazy :). I will make sure to clean it out for you because if it’s like fingernails on the chalkboard, I hate that!

On a somewhat similar note, how do you create your excellent m-dashes? Mine are always a bit shorter than I like, and I know I’m not using the code for an n-dash. Strangely, even when I copy yours directly from your comment, it shows up shorter in my comments, looking too much like an n-dash to suit me! What gives?

Now, for Aira: this was actually my least favorite of the three as I was reading it, though thinking it over extensively since (it’s been about a month) it’s grown in my estimation a lot. I look forward to your thoughts! (my favorite was An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, though Ghosts has had me thinking a lot lately.)

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:02:41 +0000

It took three reviews, Trevor, but you have finally convinced me to buy an Aira — that ice cream episode really intrigues me. And I am intrigued by the disconnect that seems to follow, since I do like novels that require me to wonder what lies in the gaps between the written parts. Since from the dates you published in your reviews this was the first of the three to be written, maybe I’ll be reading them in order.

(On a side note — and you can edit this part of the comment out later — the misuse of “different than” grates the old copy editor in me like fingernails on a blackboard. “Different than” requires a clause to follow — if it is a noun, “different from” is required. If you were a cub reporter, you would be being lashed right now I assure you.)