now im a few hundred pages into this book, it seems i might try and finish it today. something suspended in the time as i read it, maybe because many themes (or points, "takes") are already so well established and resonate so loudly, throughout the story.
reading my writing from 6 or 7 years ago and it's immediately apparent that i enjoyed artfully worded cliches rather than stuff with more substance. i was a real belletrist... maybe to compensate for my lack of life experience or only a narrow range of people i'd met at the time.
relatedly, wow: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/62563
more cool things: https://www.glassencyclopedia.com/