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.
Showing posts with label Yale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yale. Show all posts
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
John Irving and end-of-summer reading.
I love John Irving so, so much. And in the light of having finally decided that my FAVORITE BOOK is Irving's The Cider House Rules, I thought I would write a post about him.
First, though, I would like to describe why choosing a favorite book is such a momentous occasion. I despise people who have favorite books, largely because their favorite book is usually something appalling like The Notebook. People are always asking me what my favorite book is (well, sometimes asking me, as most people do not care about books, much less what books I like to read) and I am always at a loss for what to say. I have different favorite books for different moods and sometimes for different months (for example, I feel differently about Michael Cunningham in the winter than I do in the spring - I always love him but I seem to love him more passionately when it's cold out). I have favorite books in many different genres and all of them are so wildly unlike the others that it is impossible to make any kind of comparison.
Yet I realize it is important to have an answer to this question, especially if people are asking you for recommendations (though you should know I try to tailor my recommendations to each individual person, which is also important). If you don't have an answer, then people assume not that you are widely read and thus cannot choose from the many books you have read, but rather that you do not actually read and instead sit in your house accumulating large stocks of books for show purposes. As both of my younger brothers have taught me, non-readers who are flirting with the idea of becoming readers are like very nervous birds. You have to be careful not to make any sudden or threatening movements (i.e. not knowing your favorite book, which is something they assume should be simple) or they will take flight and then you will have lost them forever! I spend a lot of time trying to subtly lure people into becoming readers, so I know that it's best, on the whole, if they wind up thinking it happened mostly by accident.
I spent way more time discussing that than I thought I would. But anyway, onto Irving. I wrote out this huge paragraph about why I love John Irving and why I chose The Cider House Rules, but then it just devolved into this frenzy of superlatives and wild praise and I hate writing things like that, so I will spare you by turning it into a conveniently numbered list (I am limiting myself to 5 general things). Sorry if I'm slightly inarticulate - I'm also watching the Daily Show while I write this.
This is why I like John Irving:
1. He writes the best characters. Period. Homer Wells from The Cider House Rules is my favorite male character in fiction.
2. His writing is so very much a boy's writing, if that makes sense, which means that the unexpected moments of tenderness and heartbreak are all the more poignant.
3. His books are comfortingly familiar (they almost always include some or all of the following: boys' prep schools, wrestling, New England, writers, and European whores) without ever becoming predictable.
4. He does his research. Particularly for The Cider House Rules, which centers around illegal abortions in 1940s Maine.
5. Homer Wells. Seriously. I love him.
Okay. Now let's move on to other things, namely my impending departure for the hallowed halls of Yale. I got a giant cardboard box to put my books in and I am going to tape it up and check it with my other luggage at the airport. Unfortunately we had to take back the bookshelf we originally bought because we had no way to get it to New Haven and downgrade to a smaller one, so I can only fit probably about 40 books. I'm not sure yet how many books will fit in the box, so that might actually determine how many I take rather than shelf space. Anyway, during the course of making this list (which I won't post here as it is much too long), I made a second list of books I need to read before I leave. Most of these I own, though some I will need to borrow from other people. Here it is!
1. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (I just bought this yay)
2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (also just bought it)
3. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
4. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (seriously, it's about time, I've been meaning to do this forever)
5. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
6. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (I read a "young classics" version of this when I was like eight but seriously, it's time for the real thing)
7. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
8. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
9. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
10. Atonement by Ian McEwan
11. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
12. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
13. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
14. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (I have seriously started this at least three times and have never been able to get into it, but Sarah loves it so I might give it another try)
16. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I am really excited for this one)
As you can see, I have a lot to do in the next four weeks. I'll keep you updated on my progress. There are a few on that list that I doubt I'll finish - some of them I've already started several times and have never been able to finish, which doesn't bode well for them this time around. But I think I can get through 10 or so if I just read at a moderate pace and restrain myself from rereading old books, which I've found myself doing a lot this summer.
Also, on a final note, I got Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next book and it is no good at all. Don't waste your time with it. I got halfway through and quit in disgust.
First, though, I would like to describe why choosing a favorite book is such a momentous occasion. I despise people who have favorite books, largely because their favorite book is usually something appalling like The Notebook. People are always asking me what my favorite book is (well, sometimes asking me, as most people do not care about books, much less what books I like to read) and I am always at a loss for what to say. I have different favorite books for different moods and sometimes for different months (for example, I feel differently about Michael Cunningham in the winter than I do in the spring - I always love him but I seem to love him more passionately when it's cold out). I have favorite books in many different genres and all of them are so wildly unlike the others that it is impossible to make any kind of comparison.
Yet I realize it is important to have an answer to this question, especially if people are asking you for recommendations (though you should know I try to tailor my recommendations to each individual person, which is also important). If you don't have an answer, then people assume not that you are widely read and thus cannot choose from the many books you have read, but rather that you do not actually read and instead sit in your house accumulating large stocks of books for show purposes. As both of my younger brothers have taught me, non-readers who are flirting with the idea of becoming readers are like very nervous birds. You have to be careful not to make any sudden or threatening movements (i.e. not knowing your favorite book, which is something they assume should be simple) or they will take flight and then you will have lost them forever! I spend a lot of time trying to subtly lure people into becoming readers, so I know that it's best, on the whole, if they wind up thinking it happened mostly by accident.
I spent way more time discussing that than I thought I would. But anyway, onto Irving. I wrote out this huge paragraph about why I love John Irving and why I chose The Cider House Rules, but then it just devolved into this frenzy of superlatives and wild praise and I hate writing things like that, so I will spare you by turning it into a conveniently numbered list (I am limiting myself to 5 general things). Sorry if I'm slightly inarticulate - I'm also watching the Daily Show while I write this.
This is why I like John Irving:
1. He writes the best characters. Period. Homer Wells from The Cider House Rules is my favorite male character in fiction.
2. His writing is so very much a boy's writing, if that makes sense, which means that the unexpected moments of tenderness and heartbreak are all the more poignant.
3. His books are comfortingly familiar (they almost always include some or all of the following: boys' prep schools, wrestling, New England, writers, and European whores) without ever becoming predictable.
4. He does his research. Particularly for The Cider House Rules, which centers around illegal abortions in 1940s Maine.
5. Homer Wells. Seriously. I love him.
Okay. Now let's move on to other things, namely my impending departure for the hallowed halls of Yale. I got a giant cardboard box to put my books in and I am going to tape it up and check it with my other luggage at the airport. Unfortunately we had to take back the bookshelf we originally bought because we had no way to get it to New Haven and downgrade to a smaller one, so I can only fit probably about 40 books. I'm not sure yet how many books will fit in the box, so that might actually determine how many I take rather than shelf space. Anyway, during the course of making this list (which I won't post here as it is much too long), I made a second list of books I need to read before I leave. Most of these I own, though some I will need to borrow from other people. Here it is!
1. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (I just bought this yay)
2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (also just bought it)
3. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
4. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (seriously, it's about time, I've been meaning to do this forever)
5. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
6. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (I read a "young classics" version of this when I was like eight but seriously, it's time for the real thing)
7. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
8. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
9. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
10. Atonement by Ian McEwan
11. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
12. At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
13. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
14. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (I have seriously started this at least three times and have never been able to get into it, but Sarah loves it so I might give it another try)
16. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I am really excited for this one)
As you can see, I have a lot to do in the next four weeks. I'll keep you updated on my progress. There are a few on that list that I doubt I'll finish - some of them I've already started several times and have never been able to finish, which doesn't bode well for them this time around. But I think I can get through 10 or so if I just read at a moderate pace and restrain myself from rereading old books, which I've found myself doing a lot this summer.
Also, on a final note, I got Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next book and it is no good at all. Don't waste your time with it. I got halfway through and quit in disgust.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Finished Gatsby, yay!
I finished The Great Gatsby last night and almost cried. What a wonderful book. And such clear, succinct writing. I can't wait to read more Fitzgerald - I almost picked up Tender is the Night at Half Price Books last night but decided I could probably get it from the library. I need to be better about not buying books that are available at the library. But sometimes I just really want to own them, you know? So I can reread them or just look at them. Or put them in my LibraryThing.
But anyway, these are the books I bought:
Emma, Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Prep, Curtis Sittenfield
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
Yayyy. I am very excited about all of them and am currently reading Emma, which is okay so far but it always takes me a while to get into these kinds of books. I need to make a list of the books I want to read in order so I don't keep buying new ones and skipping around and half-starting a lot of them and then moving on, etc. That is messy. I don't want it to be.
Also I am going to change my sidebar from "book recs" to "books completed in summer 2007". That way I can keep track of what I have read. It is going to be great.
I have some sort of terrible cold thing that has rendered me mostly unable to breathe. I really, really have to finish my chem stuff tonight so I can focus solely on my calc final. And I need to email my professor about my summer research paper, which is going to be really daunting because I also have to read 3-4 books (at least) for
I started Herodotus's Histories in Borders last night and it is pretty good (he is actually pretty funny), but it is definitely slow going. And I despair at the thought of having to read something like that AND write a paper on it (what would you even WRITE about? Seriously?) every single week. I am really worried Yale is going to be a lot harder than I think it is. I mean, I know it is going to be hard, but I also feel like it will be manageable. I hope it is not a terrible surprise.
Also, they had no Nabokov at Half Price last night, which was devastating. I really liked Lolita and wanted to read Pale Fire or something along those lines.
But anyway, these are the books I bought:
Emma, Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Prep, Curtis Sittenfield
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Kate Atkinson
Yayyy. I am very excited about all of them and am currently reading Emma, which is okay so far but it always takes me a while to get into these kinds of books. I need to make a list of the books I want to read in order so I don't keep buying new ones and skipping around and half-starting a lot of them and then moving on, etc. That is messy. I don't want it to be.
Also I am going to change my sidebar from "book recs" to "books completed in summer 2007". That way I can keep track of what I have read. It is going to be great.
I have some sort of terrible cold thing that has rendered me mostly unable to breathe. I really, really have to finish my chem stuff tonight so I can focus solely on my calc final. And I need to email my professor about my summer research paper, which is going to be really daunting because I also have to read 3-4 books (at least) for
I started Herodotus's Histories in Borders last night and it is pretty good (he is actually pretty funny), but it is definitely slow going. And I despair at the thought of having to read something like that AND write a paper on it (what would you even WRITE about? Seriously?) every single week. I am really worried Yale is going to be a lot harder than I think it is. I mean, I know it is going to be hard, but I also feel like it will be manageable. I hope it is not a terrible surprise.
Also, they had no Nabokov at Half Price last night, which was devastating. I really liked Lolita and wanted to read Pale Fire or something along those lines.
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