The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis

The best parts of The Rachel Papers:

“As with most people who pass for sensitive, obsessive types, I simply can’t get enough of things to get worked up about — an interest.”

“On the way out I heart-rendingly bought Rachel a 3p postcard of Blake’s Ghost of a Flea, offering it to her with boyish diffidence. She (quite rightly) kissed me on the cheek…”

“I experienced thrilling self-pity. ‘What will that mind of yours get up to next? I said, recognizing the self-congratulation behind this thought and the self-congratulation behind that recognition and the self-congratulation behind recognizing that recognition.
Steady on. What’s so great about going mad?
But even that was pretty arresting. Even that, come on now, was a pretty arresting thing for a nineteen-year-old boy to have thought.”

“‘I couldn’t agree more, Sir Herbert, though I confess I’ve never looked at it from quite that angle… The so-called new philosophy, ‘permissiveness’ if you like, seen from the right perspetive, is only a new puritanism, whereby you’re accused of being repressed or unenlightened if you happen to object to infidelity, promiscuity, and so on. You’re not allowed to mind anything any more, and so you end up denying your instincts again — moderate possessiveness, say, or moral scrupulousness — just as the puritans would have you deny the opposite instincts. Both codes are reductive, and therefore equally unrelated to how people feel: so fucking give me a scholarship,’ or words to that effect.”

“I considered suicide, though not in my worst moments. The bottle of pills. The note: ‘No hard feelings, everyone, but I’ve thought about it and it’s just not on, is it? It’s nearly on, but not quite. No? Anyway, all the best. -C'”

Vocab list:

prolix – Unduly prolonged
hamartia – tragic flaw
cor – a unit of measure of capacity
etoliated – pale
detumescence – subsidence of swelling or an erection
atavistic – recurrence of a past mannerism
emetic – an agent that induces vomiting
blacking – subject to boycott
donnish – relating to a university don
equably – marked by lack of variation
post-prandial – after meal
skirling – emit a shrill tone
imprecation – curse
adamantine – unyielding
fecund – intellectually productive
viva – used to express goodwill or approval
mendacious – deceptive
borstal – reformatory
spinney – a small wood with undergrowth
plus-fours – loose sports knickers made four inches longer than conventional knickers
prelapsarian – before the fall of man
invigilate – supervise students at examination

30 Fun Days: Day 5

I’m on Intel’s Social Media Advisory Board, have I told you guys that? Yesterday I went to their Upgrade Your Life Event and met a bunch of smart people who like to make stuff. That is among my favorite things to do.

(This may be obvious, but thought I’d mention that this isn’t a sponsored post or anything. Just my fun thing for the day.)

Joya Chatterjee runs a program that takes Intel employees to developing countries to teach children computer skills and supply classrooms with technology.

Muki Hansteen Izora is working on a bunch of healthcare products that help detect when seniors are more likely to suffer a fall, or help caregivers determine whether patients remember to take their medicine. He showed us a little scale that attaches to the bottom a pill bottle so it can weigh whether someone has taken medication. Then it uploads that information to your PC wirelessly so caregivers can monitor it. Genius.

This is Brett who was running a scavenger hunt we did later in the day, and mentioned over dinner that he used to be a blogger too. Turns out he made a 50-item Life List in 2007, quit his job, and traveled the country crossing things off. Then he catalogued his adventures at Amtrekker. Weird right? It’s pretty rare that I get to have a conversation with someone who’s done something so similar to what I do. Hi, Brett.

Also in the fun category, a midnight toast with a couple of girlfriends.

Good day.