Reading Mix Response (bulk, part 2)
Books about elections
This may not say good things about my sense of patriotism, but I view elections as glorified, state-approved carnivals, with all the chanting, confetti and assorted party handsigns. This is why I love them. Hey, in what other time do you get to watch presidents shaking their thang with Ricky Martin, Sexbomb Dancers performing alongside labor activists and senators embarrassing themselves via karaoke?
Primary Colors, Anonymous - Not so anonymous now, apparently. A *wink wink* fictional Southern governor and part-time horndog gets the chance of becoming the most powerful man of the free world. Standing on his way is his one and only true nemesis: his dick. Will he prevail? Also, this book made me realize how convoluted America’s electoral system is.
A Fish in the Water, Mario Vargas Llosa - A memoir by popular Peruvian writer and one-time presidential candidate. He writes about his experience as a reluctant politician where he learned the capriciousness of public opinion. Interestingly he juxtaposes this with narratives about his childhood. During the election of 1990 he falls prey to smear campaigns and personal attacks (on his agnosticism and the sexual nature of his novels) and later lost to technocrat Alberto Fujimori. Who later declared couped against his own government. I like the cultured, erudite way Mario Vargas Llosa implies: “How do you like the despot you chose over me now, suckas,” in the wys he wrote it. *g*
All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren - One of my favorite novels of all time, about a small-town lawyer turned Machiavellian prince. Set in Louisiana. I am constantly floored by the language whenever I read parts of this, especially that scene where Willie Stark (the lawyer) makes a speech and it’s as if the whole sea of people listening to him surges as one to meet his booming voice. This charisma, I think, is the most transient, frivolous part of politics but no politician stays loved without it.
The Bretheren, John Grisham - Liking this book is the testament on how much I love fictional elections. It’s bad, really bad, folks, with one-dimensional characters, horrible dialogue and stupid plot twists but still! Elections! If you ever read John Grisham make it “A Time to Kill,” “The Firm” and “The Client. Then STOP. For your own good.
Books with non-celibate priests
In which I reveal my creepiness to the world. Come on, think about it: the emotional repression, battling with moral consequences, the writhing, tortured guilt of succumbing to temptation! (There goes my respectability.) Some people like twincest *eyes someone*, some people like priests, is all I’m saying. For your perusal I offer the slashy Kingdom Come by llamajoy. With hot, winged angels of death! Gotta love us Catholics, nobody else does guilt with such style.
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough - I read this book when I was twelve and instantly ha a crush on Father Ralph de Bricassart (The name! The name!). Set in an Australian ranch, it spans the lives of a very angsty family. In this book, Ralph fathers a child who grows up wanting to become a priest as well. Clearly, God likes irony.
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco - the definitive novel about the sexual activities of 12th century Benedictine monks. Okay, so the book contains a lot more things than promiscuous priests, but that does stick to the mind, huh? At one point, a monk was willing to exchange sexual favors for a chance to read a book--the book, the one book the will rule them all XDD It is my fervent hope that Umberto Eco will one day rule humanity with his giant brain.
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Jose Rizal - Ah, where the deviancy started. When I was 10, I remember reading a comic-ized version of Noli and relating the shenanigans of the priests the my classmates with an enthusiasm worthy of tabloid dramas. A combination of this and an all-girl’s Catholic education made me this way I think. ^^;; These two novels contain a doomed love, talks of revolution, a boatman, and a severed head.
Gaywyck, Vincent Virga - I'm not sure if the priest here is Catholic or Anglican (I leant my copy to mizukineige, I think) but either way he still qualifies for “battling moral consequences because his issues involve Gay. In fact, everybody and their grandfather in this book is gay. The helpless protagonist is gay. His dark, brooding, nobleman lover is gay, so is the nobleman’s evil twin brother. The protagonist’s father is also gay, and has repressed feelings for aforementioned priest. In short, Gothic Days of Our Lives with Gay. I originally thought that this a campy Jane Eyre parody, I have been assured that the writer was*serious* when he wrote this. 0_o
Books that made me feel inadequate
In which I air my literary grievances
Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco - So it wasn’t a good idea to read this book *before* The Name of the Rose because, well, a lot of stuff happened. Six hundred-odd pages of cryptologists, secret societies, software development and murders. I remember thinking along the lines of, “Holy crap, I’m not as smart as I think,” all throughout reading. The book is very dense, with more tangents than a Calculus textbook and sure I laughed at some jokes but it’s the sort of laugh you do when you’re four years old and your teenage brothers are goofing around and you snicker along with them but you honestly don’t understand what they’re talking about, you know?
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce - And now we tackle the stream-of-consciousness folks. I liked the first part because I can relate to his Irish Catholic upbringing (minus the Irish and having a dick, of course). Then I lost the plot completely, drowned in *footnotes* and wanted to cry. I have a niggling feeling that I’m going to encounter Joyce later in college, possibly in the form of Ulysses. My soul dies a little at the thought.
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner - I feel bad about not liking this because I like his short stories and “A Rose for Emily” honestly blew me away. But I thought the characters in AILD are hopelessly vague, sort of “unfinished”, and that this is the kind of book that requires you to read half a ton of literary criticism to appreciate it. BUT HOW CAN I SAY THAT ABOUT FAULKNER I’M A PHILISTINE, WOE.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde - This book is about morality the dangers of hypocrisy and the decay of Victorian ideals. But did I care about those? Hell, no! In fact, I listlessly skimmed through the pages, only perking up when I encounter Basil/Dorian/Lord Henry gayness. It doesn’t make me inadequate so much as… shallow? Like Oscar Wilde deserves better than me saying, “Oh well, the slashy parts were good, at least.” Actually, that’s similar to my approach in watching House (“Blahblah, medical jargon, sick patient, blahbl--WILSON!!!)
Hand is aching from typing, BUT THERE'S MORE!!! *kills self*