Wait I thought I had more

Oh wait I remember now. I knew I had more than one book to blog about but I just could not remember and now I do.

Firstly, I finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. It picked up a bit, but still dragged the majority of the time. But enough.

Next was Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier. I like Tracy Chevalier, she writes nice historical fiction that is usually sad, which is usually my style. But this novel just totally fell short of what I normally expect. First of all, it really should be more marketed towards teenagers. The protagonist is twelve. And I mean, yes, there can be adult books about twelve year olds, but this is not one of them. It's like she just added little snippets of sex and language to make it inappropriate for younger people and I just do not think it worked. I was disappointed. And it also had that little title tie-in that Jesi hates so much. Some random paragraph about the fireworks that were "burning bright", which really had nothing to do with the story. I will say though that it did give a nice pictures of the lower class in 18th century London. But other than that, not much going for it. One of the first books I've read so far that I have not liked. Ah well, it is not like I wasted that much time on it.

After that I read The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. I really enjoy her work. She also wrote Prep which I read in the library at DU when I locked myself out of my room. I think what she writes is very honest and believable. Nothing really ever works out for the main character. Their relationships are usually fucked up and never satisfying. And she's a really excellent writer... but she is just marketed completely wrong. Her covers are white and very chicklitish, nevermind the titles. The Man of My Dreams? I mean seriously. Any woman who picked it up hoping for a nice, light story is going to be pretty disappointed. Otherwise, most excellent.

Now I have started on Man Walks into a Room by Nicole Krauss. It is her first novel, I believe. It is about a woman whose husband disappears and when he returns he has amnesia and cannot remember her. It is really heartbreaking actually. Apparently Jesi's friend said it was not that good, but I beg to differ. I have not finished it yet but the writing is really quite good. Reminds me a lot of Jesi's writing actually. But so far it is really good. She does a good job at capturing what it would be like for the person with amnesia and their emotions, but also those of the people he knew.

I think that is all. I am on my tenth book for the month which is pretty good I must say. And I've got the new Anita Shreve and the new Ian McEwan on hold at the library so things are looking up.

Books books books.

I went to Alaska on vacation last week. I got through about five books which is pretty good I think. Not as good as Jesi of course but you know. Here's the rundown.

1. Saturday by Ian McEwan
MUCH LOVE. McEwan is an awesome, awesome author. His imagery is beautiful and he really gets into his character's heads. Saturday is about the day in the life of one man in London. His day starts out routine and then gets more and more eventful and we learn all about his family. The protagonist is a neurosurgeon and so there is a lot of hospital/human body metaphor. Did you know they call it the "theatre"? Where they do surgery. Didn't know that. Anyway, phenomenal book, possibly the best I've read by McEwan, which isn't much. But it tops Atonement quite possibly.

2. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
I had read about 100 pages of this book before I left and it was a little slow going. Actually the whole thing was slow going, but that is just its nature. It is about a young woman in New England in the early twentieth century attempting to make her way into high society, basically trying marry rich. She is apparently absolutely beautiful and should have no problem getting a husband, but instead she makes friends with other people's husbands and doesn't marry the guy she loves because he isn't wealthy enough. All this leads to her decline to poverty, which is really beautifully portrayed. The problem I had with this book I think was that Wharton was a little too open and upfront about what she wanted to get across. Instead of letting her characters and their actions do the criticizing, she has them talk about what is wrong with things. It just seemed a little too obvious for me, but I don't know, I could be reading it wrong. But still, it definitely trumps Sister Carrie.

3. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan.
Second McEwan this trip. Probably ranks third out of the three I've read. This one is about a scientist husband and a professor wife who live in London. They have a great relationship and they love each other and you just know it's all going to crap soon. They witness a hot air balloon accident and one guy dies and this other guy who was there starts stalking the protagonist and develops this major major crush on him. And it's just creepy. And of course, the protagonist just cannot handle it and no one believes him and McEwan does a good job of making the reader think that perhaps he is the crazy one. Excellent stuff though. I need to read more.

4. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Won the Pulitzer I do believe. And it was good, just, I don't know. I never really got into it too much. Someone about Ondaatje's style turned me off. It was just hard to tell what was all going on a lot of the time. It switched around between characters a lot without clear transitions. But hey it won a Pulitzer right? I also watched the movie which was really sad. I cried a lot at the movie, but not the book. Mehhh.

5. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
It's about a hermaphrodite. She becomes a he. I really enjoyed it. I like the family history and how Eugenides would get into one generation of the story but still mix it back with the narrator's story. It was twisted enough to be interesting but not too gross. It was also interesting to get the Greek immigrant dynamic as well. I also liked the play on the title too. Oh and it won the Pulitzer too. If given a choice, I'd say read Middlesex, not the English Patient.

Since returning home, I have finished Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. This is the book (and its series) that Bones the tv show is based on. Kind of confusing, but Kathy Reichs, who is an anthropologist, writes books about an anthropologist named Temperance Brennen, and in Bones, Temperance Brennen is the anthropologist who writes books about an anthropologist. It's like the show copies Reichs' life, not the books. But anyway, it's your basic mystery novel, but with a little more forensic anthropology thrown in. The Temperance Brennen of the book is a lot different than the one in the show. I stayed up one night to finish it, but that doesn't mean it was good. Just suspenseful.

Before I left I was reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, and now I am finishing it. It's gotten less interesting. She's stopped talking about her "bookclub" and now just talks about her life in and out of the university and during the war. It seems to have become less literary and more political, or rather, the author's ambivalence to politics. I am basically skimming which makes me sad.

Next on the list is Burning Bright, the latest from Tracy Chevalier.
HAPPY JESI?

Uhh...

So I started House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Got 100ish pages into it but I decided that I should read my library books and take my own books with me to Alaska. So I put it aside, even though it was a decent book. More of the whole early 20th century class issues. I like it though, the protagonist is a lot better than Sister Carrie. So instead I am reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler which is the sequel to Parable of the Sower which I read for Lit earlier in the semester. It is good, although I can't really say why. It's really critical of Christianity and organized religion and all these bad things keep happening and it's basically just really depressing. And because it's Memorial Day weekend I do not have to work so I have been doing a lot of reading which is nice.

Before starting Talents though I read the first chapter of Huck Finn and also fifty pages of Saturday by Ian McEwan. Huck Finn didn't thrill me (sorry Prof. Rohman), but McEwan is an amazing author. I absolutely love his prose.

I really need to decide which books to take on my Alaskan cruise which I am leaving for in less than a week!! Which books, but also how many. Does four sound like a good number? I'll be gone 12 days I think. I guess it depends on what books they are though. Saturday for sure, hum hum.
That is all for now, I just wanted to update because boy and I are sitting here intrawebbing it up.

Second book done! Also, I am pathetic.

So I finished my second book a few days ago. Sister Carrie* by Theodore Dreiser. It was... okay. It was recommended by my American Lit professor when we were reading Main Street. I liked Main Street a lot. They are supposed to be sort of opposite each other, in Main Street, Carol Kennicott goes from the city to a small down and tries to culture them, whereas in Sister Carrie, Carrie is coming from a small town to the big city and getting "cultured". I say "cultured" because she really just becomes more materialistic. Carol actually cares about poetry and ideas and architecture, and Carrie just cares about money. I could definitely see why Main Street was more popular than Sister Carrie. The characters are so weak and unlikable in SC. Carol just moves from guy to guy, going to whoever can give her the best time and the most money. And she lives with all these guys without marrying them, which isn't so much an issue but just the fact that she is totally using them in the process. She is just too controlling to be naive as she seems. She "falls in love" with this guy who she uses for his money, but somehow she doesn't realize he's married? Uhhh no. I just did not like her. I don't think I'd recommend this book for anyone besides those interested in the genre. I kept reading and reading and wondering what else could possibly happen. Usually that is a good thing, but this time I just wanted it to end.

Now I am reading The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips, who was apparently a child actor and five time winner of Jeopardy. Although what he acted in remains to be seen. Miss Jesi mentioned this book and I liked the title (great reason I know) and so I decided to check it out. It's been slow going. Only last night did I get to a point where I was reading without checking the page numbers to see how far I've gone. Part of the reason it's not so easy to get into is the fact that there are two narrators, both of whom are writing letters to someone. Epistolary is the word. The first narrator is the arrogant egyptologist who is writing to his fiance, the second is a private investigator doing research into this rich man's son. I think it only starts to pick up when the stories start to connect to one another. But it still isn't amazing or anything. Hopefully I can finish it in the next day or two.

I really am pathetic though because this is only my third book. I'm averaging like a book a week which is completely horrible. I only read at night because I have been working over 20 hours a week and that takes up a lot of time. And the rest of the time I am sleeping. I just need an afternoon or two alone on my hammock. I've also been redoing my room so that is taking up a lot of my time. But also now I am finished with the first season of Bones so less distractions!

And I don't know what my next book will be. I will have to think. It's time for another classic so we'll see.

* Blogger apparently doesn't have a handy little underline button so I am just going to skip it. Wah.

First book done!

So I have been home two days and I have finished my first book of the summer. Looking for Alaska by John Green. I am in many kinds of love with John Green. And his book was good. I mean I think he is a good writer, but maybe it is just YA fiction that I have a problem with. This is the third book I've read about a kind of loser/shy kid who goes to boarding school and ends up making friends with crazy weird people and they get into these relationships that aren't really relationships and I don't know. I just do not find it to be believable. The other two books in question are Bloomability by Sharon Creech and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (a girl). Bloomability I absolutely adore and will not say bad things about it except in this context. They are just pretty repetitive. And they're all about kids who wouldn't typically go to boarding school, or scholarship kids or something like that. It just bothers me. Still good though.

Today I read the first three pages of Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Recommended reading by my American Lit professor. I would quote it, but it is downstairs. Perhaps later.

Also, I went to another booksale today. I picked up another dozen books or so. I think that I am developing a problem. I got some anthologies, one called Scribbling Women, which amused me. Nathanial Hawthorne said something about "that damned mob of scribbling women", complaining about America. I also got some Camus in French and a Booker prize winner and all sorts of fun books. I am thinking that I will have to open up a lifetime LibraryThing.com account to contain all these. I've already run out of room in my two existing accounts. Ridiculous!

Update to the list. Only three days left until I am free to read whatever I want. Oh and it will be glorious.

Classics:

• Sister Carrie - Theodore Dreiser
• The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
• Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
  
• Whatever classics that I bought at a recent booksale but cannot remember now.

Contemporary:

• Looking for Alaska - John Green
• An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
• Possession - A. S. Byatt
• The Egyptologist - Arthur Phillips

I recently discover brotherhood2.com. And it is the most amazing thing. I completely adore it. These two brothers, one is John Green (see above), have decided to have no textual communication, only videoblogs and the occasional phone call. And they are both really cool guys. They like Neil Gaiman, Toothpaste for Dinner, They Might be Giants, the Mountain Goats, and their wives, who like knitting. They are intelligent and witty and cute and nerdy and just all around the best. I've spent the last two days watching every video that they've made so far. so, check it out. www.brotherhood2.com

Also, I hate finals. Le fin.

More.

So I have a couple more things to add to my list.

Classics:

• Thoreau Reader
  
• Emerson Reader
• Anne Bronte

Contemporary:

• Bronte biography?
• Margaret Atwood, various.
• The Parable of the Talents - Octavia Butler

I plan to read all these book outside on the hammock that I plan to get for my birthday. I also think I should be able to get wifi out there.

In the last week I have finished two books, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I definitely enjoyed the latter more than the former. Although Song of Solomon definitely was an interesting experience. It's really not my kind of book, but I really felt like things were coming together for me with this book. I've been taking this lit class, the American Novel, all semester and I really just have been struggling to understand the novels before the professor explains them to me. But I was able to really comprehend everything this time and I could recognize important passages before Rohman (the professor) explains them. It's just exciting and rewarding to feel like you've actually learned something at the end of the semester.

I just read the Parable of the Sower over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. It's a lot like a Handmaid's Tale in a way. Dystopian and whatnot. The main character "creates" her own religion called Earthseed in which "God is change". Just interesting ideas. And the assignment is going to fun, we have to compare modern news articles to events in the novel. So that's why the sequel is on the list. Actually Butler died recently which is kind of sad. She was kind of rare, a female African-American science fiction writer. Also, Kurt Vonnegut. In case you didn't know.

That is all for now. I am writing. Kind of. It is not easy.

Summer Reading 2007

"Well, I'm back."

The time has come to start thinking about this summer's reading list. I am definitely going to be a little bit more lenient this year. Now that I am an English Lit major, I will be reading classics all day long, so I feel that I am justified in reading only what I want, not what I feel that I should.

The rules for this summer are as follows:

• Alternate one classic with one contemporary book.
• Don't hold back.
• Get off the damned internet and stop watching tv shows on dvd.

So far the list is looking like this.

Classics:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
• Maggie, Girl of the Streets - Stephen Crane
• The Awakening - Kate Chopin
• The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
  

Not Classics (yet):

• Harry Potter, V VI VII
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
• Man Walks Into a Room - Nicole Krauss

The classics are mostly books that my American Lit prof has made me feel like I should read. I am now an American Studies minor (possibly major), so I need to stock up on all that American lit you know.