some thoughts at 5:08 am

A few things:

First, I'm going to be moving over to wordpress soon I think, largely because it's easier to use and also more convenient, as I am going to also start music blogging there (www.waitingforthetrain.wordpress.com) with Mackenzie soon. Also, the book log on the side of this page is not correct. I think the box got too full or something because it's eaten part of the list and duplicated other parts of it. I am going to start keeping a separate list in Word.

Second, I posted my Best of 2007 list below and also on Facebook, so please take a look at it and then go read the books! They're all fantastic.

Third, I've been getting a bit of a head start on my 2008 reading challenge. I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy during finals week (meaning I've now read five and a half of the 27 Pulitzer Prize fiction winners since 1980). It was fantastic and I might blog about my feelings on McCarthy later, as I also read No Country for Old Men on the plane ride home. I also bought a few other books on the list. As far as my Booker Prize challenge goes, I also finished Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty a few weeks ago (which, like The Road, makes an appearance on my Best of 2007 list), meaning I've now read three and a half of the 18 winners since 1990 (I just picked that year arbitrarily, but I think I'll stick with it rather than attempting the whole list in one year). I've read a lot more of the shortlisted ones than the actual winners, but ah well.

Fourth, I've acquired a number of new books. I'm going to see if I can remember them all without having to get up and look.
The Sea - John Banville (also on my Booker list)
White Noise - Don DeLillo
Underworld - Don DeLillo
The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
After This: A Novel - Alice McDermott (which was a finalist for the Pulitzer! so that kind of counts)
Fire from Heaven - Mary Renault
One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson (already finished)
The Emperor's Children - Claire Messud (also already finished. Should have included it in my best of 2007 list but I read it after I finished the list)

Shit, I bought at least two more but I can't remember what they were now. I'd go check but I'm far too lazy. Anyway, I'm making another Half Price run later today (last day of the 20% off sale!) and am aiming to pick up about 10 more. The one I usually go to was pretty picked over so I'm going to trek out to the one at 91st and Metcalf with Lanie, which I think is bigger and will hopefully have some of the books I'm looking for. I'd like to pick up Pale Fire (which I've been meaning to read forever), some more Fitzgerald, Amsterdam or Enduring Love by McEwan, and... well, actually, I have a list of about 20 authors I'm looking for. I have got to find a good used book store in New Haven.

Fifth, after reading an article on the subject (which of course I can't seem to find now), I've started keeping a notebook with two different kinds of lists. The first is a list of words I am unfamiliar with and their definitions and the second is a list of words I know already but would like to start using more in my writing. Also pretteh words, because there are so many of them.

Finally, I've almost settled on a schedule for next semester (pending my impressions during shopping period and advisor/professor approval for some of the upper level English courses):

FREN 115 Elementary French
ENGL 291 The American Novel Since 1945
ENGL 265 The Victorian Novel
HIST 218 Intro to Roman History: The Empire

I'll also be taking one more class. Right now I'm hoping to finagle my way into a junior seminar, either ENGL 206 Shakespeare and His Dramatic Contemporaries (with my favorite prof, Brian Walsh) or ENGL 259 Jane Austen. If that fails, I'll try and get into a freshman literature seminar (Mortality and Immortality), but I'll be honest, I'd sort of prefer not to do that.

So it should be pretty novel-heavy, which I'm delighted about. I also feel like I'm cheating a little because surely I shouldn't enjoy the reading lists this much. Isn't school about taking courses you don't really want to take but feel obligated to? Ah well. Also, after seeing my history grades from first semester, I've decided to stick with the history/English double major after all despite my initial reservations.

That's it! It's so late (er, early), but my sleep schedule is so off lately that I'm not even tired. I think I'll go read for a bit (I really want to get a move on Portrait of a Lady, which has been in my "currently reading" pile for weeks).

Also, I want to post pretty soon about my feelings regarding marking in books. I'm writing this here to remind myself.