Something About Winter Wednesday
What I've Finished Reading
Not much! Uninteresting circumstances have made it hard for me to concentrate this week, so I didn't get far with any books that aren't super easy to read. I finished Mort, in which Death takes a human apprentice and tries to get a more relaxing job "maybe something nice with cats or flowers." The apprentice screws everything up due to excessive compassion and anyway, Death isn't allowed to take a break; it's as bad as being a fictional detective. I read Hot Water by P. G. Wodehouse, which was pleasantly full of American con artists trying to con one another.
I did finish The Body, which I liked a lot, though there was a caricature of myself at 19 at the back of my mind going, "Ugh, another book about male jealousy, ugh" and worrying that Bishop was going to kill his wife in the end. But my present self thought it was beautifully written, funny and suspenseful. It's like Leontes' monologue in The Winter's Tale, but suburban: two great tastes that turn out to go great together. And Bishop's jellyfish uxoriousness is appealing even as he's tearing himself to pieces for no reason - or possibly that's just me. Anyway, another hit from the 99 Novels list.
What I'm Reading Now
A bunch of things I keep closing after five pages, through no fault of their own.
I promised osprey_archer I would join her in reading Lady Chatterly's Lover, so I started that this morning. The last thing I read by D. H. Lawrence was in 2008 or so and I vaguely remembered his prose style being kind of overheated and fairy-taleish (possibly incorrectly) so I was surprised that the first two chapters of LCL are extremely straightforward and explanatory, almost like a Baby-Sitters' Club opening chapter, where everyone's traits are dealt out to us at the outset. Connie and Clifford married without knowing each other very well, then Clifford went to war and came back paralyzed from the waist down. Clifford wants to be a writer but is thwarted by his lack of an inner life, or something like that; Connie wants a sex life but is thwarted by Clifford's paralysis. Cultural osmosis (and the back cover) tells me that this book will be about Connie having an affair, or maybe several affairs, rather than about Clifford and Connie learning to work with Clifford's limitations. But we'll see!
What I Plan to Read Next
It's C. P. Snow time again! And I'll have to catch up with my other books sometime, hopefully soon.
Not much! Uninteresting circumstances have made it hard for me to concentrate this week, so I didn't get far with any books that aren't super easy to read. I finished Mort, in which Death takes a human apprentice and tries to get a more relaxing job "maybe something nice with cats or flowers." The apprentice screws everything up due to excessive compassion and anyway, Death isn't allowed to take a break; it's as bad as being a fictional detective. I read Hot Water by P. G. Wodehouse, which was pleasantly full of American con artists trying to con one another.
I did finish The Body, which I liked a lot, though there was a caricature of myself at 19 at the back of my mind going, "Ugh, another book about male jealousy, ugh" and worrying that Bishop was going to kill his wife in the end. But my present self thought it was beautifully written, funny and suspenseful. It's like Leontes' monologue in The Winter's Tale, but suburban: two great tastes that turn out to go great together. And Bishop's jellyfish uxoriousness is appealing even as he's tearing himself to pieces for no reason - or possibly that's just me. Anyway, another hit from the 99 Novels list.
What I'm Reading Now
A bunch of things I keep closing after five pages, through no fault of their own.
I promised osprey_archer I would join her in reading Lady Chatterly's Lover, so I started that this morning. The last thing I read by D. H. Lawrence was in 2008 or so and I vaguely remembered his prose style being kind of overheated and fairy-taleish (possibly incorrectly) so I was surprised that the first two chapters of LCL are extremely straightforward and explanatory, almost like a Baby-Sitters' Club opening chapter, where everyone's traits are dealt out to us at the outset. Connie and Clifford married without knowing each other very well, then Clifford went to war and came back paralyzed from the waist down. Clifford wants to be a writer but is thwarted by his lack of an inner life, or something like that; Connie wants a sex life but is thwarted by Clifford's paralysis. Cultural osmosis (and the back cover) tells me that this book will be about Connie having an affair, or maybe several affairs, rather than about Clifford and Connie learning to work with Clifford's limitations. But we'll see!
What I Plan to Read Next
It's C. P. Snow time again! And I'll have to catch up with my other books sometime, hopefully soon.