Whatcha Reading Now?
Couldn't find the old thread on the first 2 pages, so I thought I'd start one afresh.
I've recently finished reading David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, and although it was well written as are all of his novels, I can't say I liked it nearly as much as either Cloud Atlas or Number9Dream. Right after reading this book, about a middle class English public schoolboy, I read Irvine Welsh's Glue, which is about four Scottish lower class public schoolboys (who grew into young men of various levels of success), which I have to admit I found much more pleasurable and rewarding. Maybe I missed some profound insight or something in the Mitchell book... not sure.
Now, I'm reading Nabakov, specifically Ada or Ardour, which despite having thouroughly loved Lolita from start to finish and having also enjoyed a collection of Nabokov's short stories, I found difficult to get into early on. Fortunately, I kept at it, and about halfway through I'm really enjoying it. This is despite the fact that, like Lolita and unbeknownst to me prior to reading it, Ada is another story of a love too taboo to be written about by any other than this eccentric Russian overliterary genius.
Was it that having just finished something written in vulgar Scottish proletariat dialect (and following that with a brief return to horrorsmith Clive Barker), my brain wasn't tuned to the complex sentence structures and roundabout descriptions Nabakov so loves? I don't know, but I suspect that it was!
This has caused me to formulate an interesting hypothesis:
Does our brain tune itself so quickly to the language to which we are exposed?
I've also noticed a transference of the intellectual style of what I've been reading to what I've been writing. Case in point my post in PO about the definition of "victory" in the War on Terror. I don't think I could have written that a month ago when I was reading Welsh or Barker. While I admit I can never come close to being a Nabakov (and who the hell can?), or even a Mitchell, I do think what I read greatly affects how I write. Having observed this, I've come to the conclusion that were I to immerse myself in sophisticated literature of the style of Nabakov and Huxley, I may be able to maitain a certain style that I respect of myself within my own writing.
Of course that would all become boring very quickly...
Maybe it's time to read some Chuck Pahlaniuk so I can better flame the likes of SDW and Trumptman... LOL
Actually, it looks like the next book I'll be reading will be Michel Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island so maybe you can look forward to me spewing out violent sexual annhialism in the near future.
But I digress...
So, whatcha reading?
I've recently finished reading David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, and although it was well written as are all of his novels, I can't say I liked it nearly as much as either Cloud Atlas or Number9Dream. Right after reading this book, about a middle class English public schoolboy, I read Irvine Welsh's Glue, which is about four Scottish lower class public schoolboys (who grew into young men of various levels of success), which I have to admit I found much more pleasurable and rewarding. Maybe I missed some profound insight or something in the Mitchell book... not sure.
Now, I'm reading Nabakov, specifically Ada or Ardour, which despite having thouroughly loved Lolita from start to finish and having also enjoyed a collection of Nabokov's short stories, I found difficult to get into early on. Fortunately, I kept at it, and about halfway through I'm really enjoying it. This is despite the fact that, like Lolita and unbeknownst to me prior to reading it, Ada is another story of a love too taboo to be written about by any other than this eccentric Russian overliterary genius.
Was it that having just finished something written in vulgar Scottish proletariat dialect (and following that with a brief return to horrorsmith Clive Barker), my brain wasn't tuned to the complex sentence structures and roundabout descriptions Nabakov so loves? I don't know, but I suspect that it was!
This has caused me to formulate an interesting hypothesis:
Does our brain tune itself so quickly to the language to which we are exposed?
I've also noticed a transference of the intellectual style of what I've been reading to what I've been writing. Case in point my post in PO about the definition of "victory" in the War on Terror. I don't think I could have written that a month ago when I was reading Welsh or Barker. While I admit I can never come close to being a Nabakov (and who the hell can?), or even a Mitchell, I do think what I read greatly affects how I write. Having observed this, I've come to the conclusion that were I to immerse myself in sophisticated literature of the style of Nabakov and Huxley, I may be able to maitain a certain style that I respect of myself within my own writing.
Of course that would all become boring very quickly...
Maybe it's time to read some Chuck Pahlaniuk so I can better flame the likes of SDW and Trumptman... LOL
Actually, it looks like the next book I'll be reading will be Michel Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island so maybe you can look forward to me spewing out violent sexual annhialism in the near future.
But I digress...
So, whatcha reading?
Comments
You send the poorly-written, legalese crap to opposing counsel you don't like.
I'm definitely taking some sort of human rights law elective when I get the chance.
Other than that hideous stack of books I'm too familiar with, I'd like to finally polish off my Chekhov anthology, actually sit down and read an issue of Harper's or The New Yorker cover to cover, and maybe go to Barnes and Noble to pick up a random book off the shelves.
Couple monthss ago... "I Am Charlotte Simmmons" ... almost funny (though it wassn't intended to be.) A pretty good take on US Universities and their focus on Sports.
"Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, THE HISTORIAN is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe--in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world. "
Maybe given the fact that I had just finished Neil Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" before this one...
One of the good thing about having a commute is I've started to read books again.
Yeah, I'm commuting again and have been for about 6 months and I've read over FIVE books. About a book a month.
1. A Scanner Darkly (Philip K. Dick was a genius, I'll be reading more of his work)
2. Let It Blurt: The Life & Times of Lester Bangs (Greatest Rock critic of all time)
3. The Adventures of Kavalier & Klay (Had this sitting around for a year, great book)
4. Men of Tomorrow. Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (The real story of the Comic Book business, also good)
5. Cryptonomicon (I don't know, was interesting, exciting to read but the crypto stuff went over my head and the ending left me wanting...an ending)
6. The Historian (Like I said, meh...)
In the last 3 months...
* - previously read
For School:
Night - Elie Weisel
* Lord of the Flies - William Golding
* Animal Farm - George Orwell
* Native Son - Richard Wright
* The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Rise to Rebellion - Jeff Shaara
Personal Interest:
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
The Areas of my Expertise - John Hodgman (goddam hilarious)
Partly Cloudy Patriot - Sarah Vowell
Audiobooks are fantastic. If I'm not talking to someone I'm probably listening to a book on my iPod.
Edit: Ah I skimmed right over that first sentence. When did you decide to become an English teacher?
"Marsha" the office lady or whoever push you over the edge?
Being an English teacher, I do little that is not reading.
In the last 3 months...
* - previously read
For School:
Night - Elie Weisel
* Lord of the Flies - William Golding
* Animal Farm - George Orwell
* Native Son - Richard Wright
* The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Rise to Rebellion - Jeff Shaara
Personal Interest:
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
The Areas of my Expertise - John Hodgman (goddam hilarious)
Partly Cloudy Patriot - Sarah Vowell
Audiobooks are fantastic. If I'm not talking to someone I'm probably listening to a
book on my iPod.
hmm im going to guess freshman english teacher?
(Not recommended.)
I didn't know you and Colbert were cousins?
8th grade
What animal would you like to morph into right before the world blows up?
Oh, Groverat, I envy you! I'd love that job...
Right now I'm teaching 3 four and five year-olds, many of whom never learned a word of English thus far in their young lives. The books I'm reading this week are "Farmyard Babies" and "On the Farm (Lift the Flap)". LOL
That's my part-time job.
I also work as a full-time marketing manager in the printing industry... we print books, but strictly coffee-table...
tonton:
8th grade Texans are, for the most part, not the most willing English students.
The Stranger by Albert Camus
L'étranger by Albert Camus
(This book was originally printed in french)
1984 by George Orwell
Watership Down by Richard Adams
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
(Sadly, our class did not have time to read it so we are watching the movie.)
My favorite of these books was 1984. Having read Animal Farm last year I found it interesting how consistent Orwell was in how a society can be controlled. On the other end of this like/dislike spectrum is Watership Down. I hated that book. I didn't really see anything there to think deeply about. I didn't really like the writing style either. Adam's spent too much time describing stuff that didn't really matter. Like plants.
That is all the reading we will have done. For the final I have to choose one of 25 books, read, analyze and then write a glorified book report on it. I'm thinking about choosing Heart of Darkness or Slaughterhouse 5. Anybody have any thoughts on those?
tonton:
8th grade Texans are, for the most part, not the most willing English students.
haha.
I feel sorry for Texas teachers.
Really. Really. sorry :P
Interesting what you said about Orwell. In class, our teacher mentioned Brave New World as some more reading to go along with 1984, but it is not in the curriculum.
In my previous post I forgot to mention that I'm also planning on reading The Count of Monte Cristo and Catch-22 after I'm done with my novels class. I've heard that they're both really good.
Gotta find the song by the Cure to go with the book as a soundtrack...
'Killing an Arab' off of Boys Don't Cry (or The Singles collection).