Man.

I've been so busy. I apologize. Graduation and everything. But I did get a lot of listening/reading done while knitting my sweater thing.

Book 3: My Antonia by Willa Cather
A very nice book. Kind of depressing, but beautiful. I actually watched the movie version and it really did it no justice. Jim was kind of cute though. Ha. Out of all the books I've read so far, it was probably my second favorite. Tess is first. Tess is much more dramatic and gothic and romantic and I like that. My Antonia is very American. The setting is described wonderfully and Jim's insight is interesting.

Book 4: On the Road by Jack Kerouac
I did not like this book very much, I will admit. Part of it might've been the narrator's voice on the cd book, but still. I suppose the Beat Movement just does not particularly appeal to me. And I was just so tired of hearing about Dean Moriarty. Sal seemed to idolize him, but I was just like, shutup. And I think the idea of traveling that much just made uncomfortable. Maybe a little roadtrip, but nothing longer than that. I guess I just couldn't relate to the characters in anyway. I have no desire to do drugs or listen to jazz or hitchhike. I'm not dissatisfied with my life. Perhaps I'm boring. Or else I just do not care of the west. I wonder if this book was set in Europe or the East if I would've liked it better.

I do think the stream of conciousness wrting works better when you're listening to it. But I loved this quote by Truman Capote about the fact that Kerouac wrote the whole thing in three weeks on one sheet of paper or whatever, "That's not writing at all - it's typing".

So this book is at the bottom of the list. I'm sure it was very influential for others, just not me.

Book 5: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
I'm only a couple chapters into this book. Listening to it again. It's crazy. I had an idea of what it was about, but not its tone before I started. I could definitely see why my boyfriend liked it. And the chapter on Major Major Major Major cracked me up. I just like saying that actually. More on this one later.

Second book: DONE

Things are moving a little faster now. This listening and knitting thing is working out well. I finished my second book the other day and now I'm onto the third. And it's only Day 16. Aha.

Book 2: The Stranger by Albert Camus.

First off, it's Al-bear Camoo. Not Albert Camus. At least pronouncation wise. He's French. But so I was listening to it, and there are four disks, but then suddenly the book ended. And that threw me off. I need time to prepare for an ending though you know. But then it was okay because the fourth disk was an explanation of the book and existentialism and I really needed that. Life sucks yes, but don't kill yourself. I think existentialism is really just for slackers. Dori and Beckah and I talked about it at work. But yeah, interesting book.

Book 3 is My Antonia by Willa Cather. So far so good. I've read some other Willa Cather and she isn't bad. But I swear there are two different narrators. The guy's voice changes like every couple tracks. But yeah, that's all.

First book: DONE

Well, twelve days into it, I've finished Tess of the D'urbervilles. So yeah.

Book 1: Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
I liked this book. It is my type of book. It is British and written in the nineteenth century and it is Victorian and overly dramatic. I like it when books are about emotions and relationships and not other things. This book can be put in the same catagory as Rebecca and Wuthering Heights. I like those.

And poor Tess you just feel so bad for her. And both of the guys are crap, but you switch between them, trying to decide which is the lesser of two evils.

And the ending was surprising, but not. Once it happened you could understand it.

And I don' thave much more to say right now because I want to go knit and listen to my next book which is...

Book 2: The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Oh yes and so I've decided while I've got this giant knitting project that I will listen to some of the books on cd even though I'm a faster reader.

I'm about a fourth of the way into this one. It reads like a diary, and an almost boring one at that. Maybe not boring, but his day to day life can be mundane, although he notices things in a different way. But I think I'm just about to get to the juicy stuff because I looked at the book itself in the library and the chapter I'm on talks about guns. Duhn duhn duhn. Also I wouldn't mind reading this in French, I think it would be fun.

Okay that is all for now.

Day 5. Sigh.

Well, it's the end of day five. And it's not going so well. My first book was Tess of the D'urbervilles. It's a great book, but I should be two-thirds the way through my second book, not one hundred pages into the first. I think it will be better once school is all done. But still.

Tess is racy. But only in a way that 19th century literature can be. I am enjoying it though. More later. I should go read now.

Today is the day!

So I had planned to start reading today. However, it is now very close to my bedtime and I really don't think I'll get much done. I think it may be a few days before I get into full swing. I've got to finish school and then it'll be okay that I sleep so late.

I still haven't even picked a first book. I collected all the books that I have in my room and put them in one place. There's about a dozen. I think there's more in the rest of the house though.

Also, a slight change has been made to the list. Instead of reading Crime and Punishment by some Russian guy whose last name I can't remember or spell, I am going to read the Brothers Karasmov because I will be reading that one for my honors seminar this fall at Dominican.

So yeah, I'm going to get off here and go read.