what i’m reading now
18
Dec 10
Quick and random update
I know I’ve been pretty lax lately with the updates. I could say it’s because I’ve been focusing all my energy on my memoir, but really I’m just lazy.
Life has been peaceful since my grandmother’s funeral. Besides working and writing, I’ve been (as usual) trying to exercise more consistently and regularly. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been very good, though of course today I’m tempted not to go.
Last Tuesday I was a ball of firy productivity. I got up early and went to the gym. Then I went right back out and headed to Union Square for my mother’s Christmas present: a gift card from a department store. But first a delicious ham and gruyere baguette and coffee from my new favorite place, Crepe O Chocolat.
Going to the store early was a good idea. There were hardly any people, nor at another store where I got some new pajama bottoms. I’ve had the same ones for YEARS, and MB is constantly making fun of how thin they are in the seats.
Then I was back home before noon. Spent the afternoon working and writing. By 3 I could have really used a nap, but I pushed through it.
On Thursday I was out and about early again. Sent my parents’ package (btw, I love the automated postal machines but hate the people who feel they have to read every entire screen for each and every package; here are two pieces of advice: THEY’RE ALL THE SAME and JUST SAY NO), hit the gym, had yummy spicy seafood Vietnamese pho, did a bit more shopping, hung out at the New People cafe in Japantown to work.
But I was feeling very blah for some reason. Just physically tired. And piggish too! MB had a dinner meeting so I just ate the leftover pizza in our fridge and then a bunch of Doritoes. So much for my low-fat diet. Then I had pizza again the next day at work! Need to lay off the cheese for a while.
My latest obsession is The Hunger Games. The books are SO GOOD. YP turned me onto them, though I’ve been hearing about them for ages. Gripping and surprisingly brutal. No mushy love stories or sparkly vampires. (There is some sparkling but only because the progtagonist is tripping from some deadly wasps.) I’m on the second book now.
This rainy weather just makes me want to curl up and read The Hunger Games all day.
Oh, and write too, I suppose. My memoir is taking way longer than expected, but I’m wrapping up the last chapter. Now it’s quite a bit longer. At start it was around 50,000 words, but now I’m close to 90,000. I expanded quite a bit, especially in the beginning.
Back to work!
16
Oct 10
What I’ve Been Reading: Snarky Six Word Reviews
It’s a very long time since my last update on what I’ve been reading – although I have mentioned books along the way – so get ready for a whole slew of snarky six word reviews.
Since I’ve totally veered from reading everything on the BBC 100 List, most of these books will not be from that list. I will also exclude the Harry Potter books. I loved them, but they all sort of blend in my mind.
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. Overrated. Dickens obviously paid by word.
Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Read instead of Dickens. Watch miniseries.
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. Surprisingly trashy. Details make the book.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving. Interesting and strange. Curious about movie.
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Pretentious literary gymnastics. Good characters though.
The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. Suspenseful gothic mystery. Suspend all disbelief.
The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson. Want to take up boxing now.
Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. Unexpectedly ignorant, anti-war, pro-woman.
The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly. Dark, imaginative, and sad. Want more.
Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres. War romance with slow start, nice payoff.
Saturday’s Child, by Kathleen Norris. Enjoyable fluff. Single gal, 1915 SF.
Room, by Emma Donoghue. Amazingly moving. Read in two nights.
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. His radio stories. Still hilarious though.
And that’s it!
Of all of these, I’d say the only one you MUST read is Room. I could not put that sucker down. At the same time, it’s thoroughly disturbing and upsetting. I felt like I was in that room, in the head of Jack, the five-year old narrator. And the fact that the author could pull off the voice of a little kid for an entire novel – I don’t know if I’d be able to do that.
The Book of Lost Things was also quite good. I liked it well enough that I want to read his other book, The Gates, which seems to be YA, but a lot of awesome books out there are YA.
Now I’m reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It’s a long one so I won’t be done for a while.