Anne's #45-48
Happy New Years Everyone!
I'm a day late for closing out 2008, but for sanity's sake, here's the end of my reading for 2008!
School ended, and for the first time in a while I had the freedom to choose whatever it was that I wanted to read, and in true English Major fashion...I somehow translated that as it being time to read more Shakespeare. Not sure why, but that was what I just desperately wanted to read for the past two weeks. But I dug out some Vonnegut as well, and oddly enough, ended 2008 reading Vonnegut just like I did in 2007. I wonder if that's a sign of some sort.
ANYWAY, here is my list:
45. The Tempest - William Shakespeare
It's kind of funny that this is the first of these 4 books that I finished, because it was the last that I started reading. I was in the middle of the three books below (at once), and then I had to jump on BART to meet a friend in San Francisco, and realized that I didn't have a book on me for my 45 minute train ride - so I ran into Borders and bought this and read it overnight. The Tempest isn't one of my favorites of Shakespeare's plays. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it came from the fact that I read it at the same time as I was reading Romeo and Juliet, but the language doesn't seem quite as poetic as some of the other plays. Not that it doesn't have its moments - almost all Shakespeare plays too. But it had been years since I had read this, and it was nice to get a refresher. I've made it one of my goals to collect and finish reading Shakespeare's full collection in the next year or two. So I'm sure you're going to see much more of this kind of stuff out of me.
46. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
I picked up Romeo after watching the Baz Luhrmann film and realizing that I hadn't read this since, I think, around 2000 or 2001, and figured I could use a reread. I still do think that this is one of Shakespeare's most gorgeous - and most frustrating - plays. I very much enjoyed my reread, although I think it's interesting that I CAN'T read it without seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in my head anymore. Kind of like how Harold Perrineau has ruined me on the character of Mercutio forever. Even Tennant can't compare.
47. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook
To copy basically what I said in my Year-In-Review post (which I shall post here in a little bit), this was really an experience to read. All Doctor Who fans of the Russell T Davies era should get their hands on this book. It's entertaining: hilarious and fascinating all at once. Russell is brutally honest about himself and his own personal character faults throughout the book. He's brutal with himself about his own manner of writing. And yet, I found it strangely inspirational. It made me want to go out and (figuratively) smoke an entire pack of cigarettes, while pulling an all nighter in an attempt to WRENCH a difficult story out of my own head.
48. The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
I love Vonnegut. I really do. He's so ridiculous, but so entertaining all at once. This was my first time reading this one, and I did love it a great deal. I find it kind of frustrating though, because I can tell that there was some statement or deeper meaning to what he was saying in this book, but I can't quite put it into words. I can FEEL it, but I can't translate it. Which means that this might require a reread. This is the English major in me talking, but I think it would be really interesting to write a paper on religious imagery in this book and Cat's Cradle. Not that I'm going to - just that it'd be interesting to compare the religions in each of these books.
That's it for now! Back a little later with my Year-in-Review!
I'm a day late for closing out 2008, but for sanity's sake, here's the end of my reading for 2008!
School ended, and for the first time in a while I had the freedom to choose whatever it was that I wanted to read, and in true English Major fashion...I somehow translated that as it being time to read more Shakespeare. Not sure why, but that was what I just desperately wanted to read for the past two weeks. But I dug out some Vonnegut as well, and oddly enough, ended 2008 reading Vonnegut just like I did in 2007. I wonder if that's a sign of some sort.
ANYWAY, here is my list:
45. The Tempest - William Shakespeare
It's kind of funny that this is the first of these 4 books that I finished, because it was the last that I started reading. I was in the middle of the three books below (at once), and then I had to jump on BART to meet a friend in San Francisco, and realized that I didn't have a book on me for my 45 minute train ride - so I ran into Borders and bought this and read it overnight. The Tempest isn't one of my favorites of Shakespeare's plays. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it came from the fact that I read it at the same time as I was reading Romeo and Juliet, but the language doesn't seem quite as poetic as some of the other plays. Not that it doesn't have its moments - almost all Shakespeare plays too. But it had been years since I had read this, and it was nice to get a refresher. I've made it one of my goals to collect and finish reading Shakespeare's full collection in the next year or two. So I'm sure you're going to see much more of this kind of stuff out of me.
46. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
I picked up Romeo after watching the Baz Luhrmann film and realizing that I hadn't read this since, I think, around 2000 or 2001, and figured I could use a reread. I still do think that this is one of Shakespeare's most gorgeous - and most frustrating - plays. I very much enjoyed my reread, although I think it's interesting that I CAN'T read it without seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in my head anymore. Kind of like how Harold Perrineau has ruined me on the character of Mercutio forever. Even Tennant can't compare.
47. Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook
To copy basically what I said in my Year-In-Review post (which I shall post here in a little bit), this was really an experience to read. All Doctor Who fans of the Russell T Davies era should get their hands on this book. It's entertaining: hilarious and fascinating all at once. Russell is brutally honest about himself and his own personal character faults throughout the book. He's brutal with himself about his own manner of writing. And yet, I found it strangely inspirational. It made me want to go out and (figuratively) smoke an entire pack of cigarettes, while pulling an all nighter in an attempt to WRENCH a difficult story out of my own head.
48. The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
I love Vonnegut. I really do. He's so ridiculous, but so entertaining all at once. This was my first time reading this one, and I did love it a great deal. I find it kind of frustrating though, because I can tell that there was some statement or deeper meaning to what he was saying in this book, but I can't quite put it into words. I can FEEL it, but I can't translate it. Which means that this might require a reread. This is the English major in me talking, but I think it would be really interesting to write a paper on religious imagery in this book and Cat's Cradle. Not that I'm going to - just that it'd be interesting to compare the religions in each of these books.
That's it for now! Back a little later with my Year-in-Review!