Raz

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  1. I really think this was the best episode of important if true so far, I was a bit worried after the first episode that it would feel a bit scripted, but the Thumbs have just been smashing it since then, especially with stuff like Nick's story. I also like to imagine Nick pitching Hey Ya to some record executive whilst explaining why it's such a good song and trying to do the dance to it too, before being laughed out of the office. I love the endorsements, and I've been trying them as best I can, including a long delayed one of posting here (Hi!) as a long time reader, first time writer. I also found late night work club through Scott Benson and just wanted to say for fans of animation here's my favourite, it's a bit old but not that many people seem to have seen it, it's even got Nick Cave in it! I also want to follow up with an endorsement of my own; Celtic music. I have Chris in mind with this song because the musicianship is so good, but it's great music for anyone to work to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZknSJwYdayI (I don't want to video spam so have it as a link).
  2. I know I'm incredibly late to the table here, but I've just finished the book and the bookcast this evening. I love the podcast and the bookcast, especially for giving me an ever growing list of things to fill my weekly train journeys with. Back to the book, the biggest thing I took away from it is that the entire book was merely a footnote in the life story of Veronica, just like all the history textbooks they read as young adults. I love that the majority of Tony's life is reduced to a few sentences because it frames his regret and remorse so perfectly, in that he left a lingering mark on Veronica's life that echoed throughout the 40 years that he could just skip through but she would have torturingly endured. He just didn't get it. It really raises some pertinent questions about whether or not the readers life has ever gone completely to plan and what fulfilling that "plan" has done to everyone around you. That butterfly effect of your mere presence in someone else’s life will imperceptibly move and shape them, for better or worse, regardless of any lingering letters or words of wisdom. I love that Tony tries to build almost an artificial history for himself at the end by becoming a regular at a pub and a shop nowhere near him, in the hopes of recapturing a thin sliver of his old life. It's such a human thing, and even though as a reader i didn't like Tony any more, i felt sorry for the guilt and shame he must have been feeling. I even kept thinking he might take his own life at the end, to rid himself of the guilt and shame; seppaku almost. I guess he couldn't pull off that grandiose a gesture to life. Life is so fragile as well, a simple letter can be the pivot of a whole life, as fragile as the memories they become. How we can construct a life for ourselves on a foundation of sand, forcing it out of sheer will and disbelief that we can be that cruel. Plus i always feel like Tony in that the things i write always seem so much better in my head, but then when i commit them to paper they are never as good, how he shows that with his correspondance with Jack really stood out to me, especially because of how many letters he wrote as a kid. It says a lot of people how much he lingers on the "failure" of a relationship with Veronica and yet brushes over the good relationship with Annie, he lingers on his failings so much towards the end of his life, no matter how many triumphs he has in a Daughter and a peaceable existence he prefers to judge himself through his failure. It really hit home for me in so many places, uncomfortably so in how much I'm waiting for my life to begin as they said, and in how our lives are but fleeting memories before they are history. I hope I'm young enough to still change this, leave a better legacy than just remorse and regret. I'm so glad you guys read this book otherwise I’m not sure I would have, but it's really deeply affected me and I wanted to say thanks.