Example
Wisława Szymborska
A gale
stripped all the leaves from the trees last night
except for one leaf
left
to sway solo on a naked branch.
With this example
Violence demonstrates
that yes of course –
it likes it little jokes from time to time.
translated from the polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak
Since I never posted a September review, and I only read 3 books in October, I figure I can just talk about both months together. Total, I read twelve books, so an average of six a month isn’t terrible me. October was Just. So. Busy. I didn’t even have tv or interwebs for much of the month, but still didn’t manage to read much. One of the books, Humans of New York, wasn’t even a real reading type book, but you do get great stuff like this:
“The more times I fall in love, the less sure I am about love.”
I did read some books I’d been wanting to get to for quite awhile, like The Color Purple, Wuthering Heights, and The Land of Green Plums. I ended up really liking Wuthering Heights, which was *quite* unexpected.
So, 12 books total.
Translated 2 17%
Nonfiction 3 25%
Female authors 7 58%
People tell me on a somewhat regular basis that they really do like to read, but they don’t have time, they don’t understand how I read as much as I do, etc. I tell them that I make it a priority. I always have a book on me, and I will read even if it’s for five or ten minutes at a time.
This week I’m at a work conference, and this morning out speaker was late. We were told we could do what we wanted for the next hour. While most people stayed in the meeting room, chatting about the previous night’s exploits, I decided to take advantage of the lovely hammocks outside.
I mean, how could I resist that?
Clearly I could not.
So there I am in a dress and heels walking through the sand to go lay on a hammock and read a novel for 45 minutes. But why the heck not? It was the perfect little interlude.
And that’s how I read as much as I do.
Ana over at Things Mean A Lot is hosting a reading event in January that is meant to give participants a little nudge to read those books we’ve been meaning to get to, but, well, haven’t.
At first I thought “Planning for January? That’s so far away.” And then I realized it’s already November. Oops.
While you are not required to post a list, I think I’ll probably focus on some books from my 30 x 30 list, which has definitely been neglected. I’ve read 9.5 books off the list, and now have less than 6 months before my deadline. Oops, again.
I have heard that time goes by faster as you get older. I swear, if it goes by any faster than this year has, I’ll inhale on January first and exhale on Labor Day. Ridiculous!
I’m at a work conference for a few days, and of course couldn’t figure out what books to bring. I have “Lies” of course, and then I also brought “The Blind Assassin” and “Bury My Heart at aWounded Knee.” And my nook, which has a bunch of classics.
I think tonight is a Margaret Atwood type of night.
We’ve moved into a new place, and I’m setting up my reading area. Here’s what it looks like so far:
And here’s my hubby “measuring” to see how much room we might have for a couple comfy chairs.
I can’t wait to find some more seating. The I can start hanging some art and this carved wooden mirror that I have. The place is looking a little bare at the moment. I found a couple cool yellow upholstered ones from Cynthia Rowley on clearance at Home Goods, but ultimately didn’t think the color would work. The hunt continues!
I was home reading
rather than worrying about writing a writ of habeas corpus.
Speaking of Lies My Teacher Told Me, have any of you read this? Good stuff so far! I wish I’d had it back when I was actually teaching high school.
This is day 1 of blogging every day for November. Have to get back on track after last month’s dearth of posts.
Happy Halloween!
You know what ‘s really scary? How much I’ve neglected my blog. But I’m back!
On to a quickie review:
The Land of Green Plums
Herat Müller
I’ve been wanting to read something by Herta Müller since she won the Nobel Prize in 2009. I bought this book at least a year ago, and finally got around to it.
The book is about a group of young people growing up in Romania under the communist Ceausescu regime. Much of the narrative is veiled and indirectly stated, much like the coded letters the narrator sends her three friends.
They are under suspicion of something – what is not exactly clear. That’s the point, though. No one is safe, any stray word or joke pointed at the wrong person or interest in anything not sanctioned by the state meant you could be hauled in for questioning – or worse – at any time. Applying for a passport to leave the county was like playing Russian roulette. An “accident” might befall you when you were on the train, or at your hotel, or…
My copy of the novel comes with the text if Müller’s Nobel Prize lecture. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
Some favorite quotes:
“No cities can grow in a dictatorship, because everything stays small when it’s being watched.”
“We looked for things that would set us apart because we read books.”
Ok, bear with me. I’m writing this from my phone, because I am currently internet-less. Which is fitting for this review, because I read most of this book on my phone.
Thursday night I couldn’t sleep, so I downloaded this short story collection to my nook app. I read about half of it before I was able to fall back asleep. I then finished it over the weekend in moments stolen out of my taskmaster-husband’s line of sight. We were moving over the weekend, hopefully for the last time EVER. The house is great, and we’re excited to work on some projects and (eventually) make it totally perfect for us 😀
On to the book!
Gao Xingjian is Chinese by birth, currently living in France. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000. This short story collection has six stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the first four. The were short, beautifully written vignettes dealing with longing, loss, remembrances of the past. Great!
The title story seemed, at first, to continue the trend. Then it suddenly veered off into a long, weird, extended dream sequence. Fortunately, it at least somewhat prepared me for what was up next. The last story, “In an Instant,” was just bizarre. And creepy. Nightmarish. All full of imagery about rotting corpses and drowning in slimy water and a bunch more stuff that I’m trying to block out of my brain. *shudder*
I know there a a bunch of bloggers doing the R.I.P. Challenge. Based on the last two stories, which made up a good half of the book, I’d say this would qualify for all the creepiness factor one could want.
Crank
Ellen Hopkins
I I realize it’s Thursday of Banned Books Week and I still haven’t posted a review of a banned book, despite pledging to do so. Bad blogger. Well, here goes:
I read Crank a couple weeks ago when I was traveling. I pulled it out on my plane ride, and despite not really loving the book, finished about half of it by the time we landed. The book is nearly 500 pages long, but those pages are covered in free verse, leaving quite a bit of white space.
Number one: I was not a fan of this format. It didn’t feel like a book told in poems, but more like an outline of a book.
Number two: Lots of banned books are great books. This one… not so much.
The book is about a teenage girl who gets hooked on meth/crank/the monster. It’s based on the experiences of the author’s daughter. Spoilers Ahead: It’s rather juvenile and heavy handed in a way that I didn’t care for. Mom likes the beautiful lifeguard boyfriend who turns out to be a rapist and heavy drug user, while not being impressed with the “ugly” nice guy who trys to keep his drug use under control. There’s this whole “thank you for honoring your child” line that read as total BS when it turns out that the protaganist is pregnant by her rapist. Why is so difficult to portray abortion as a viable choice for a teenage meth addict who continues to intermittently use even after she finds out she’s pregnant? /End Spoilers.
Might it be valuable to show teenagers the dangers of trying meth? Sure. Do I think it should be banned? No. Do I think it’s a fine piece of literature? No.
Further Reading: Check out this interesting Mother Jones article about how Big Pharma is keeping meth cookers in business: Merchants of Meth.
Wandering in the Stacks 