Friday, August 15, 2008

reading

i am going to make a list of the books i want to obtain in the near future. dc pierson wrote an entry that reminded me that i am STILL 2/3 of the way through the first neal stephenson baroque cycle book, and i started reading it BEFORE I MOVED TO THIS CITY. it's been on top of the book case in my bedroom since i moved into my apartment and got that bookcase set up. ugh. that's partly because it was an exhausting book to read up until that point, but i also really enjoyed what i read AND many of the passages are extremely vivid and i think of them pretty often. so i need to man up and finish the series. they are cheap at the strand. and i think they came out with mass market formats of them, so i won't have to pay $14 for a 3 pound book. that sounds silly, but i am still a weak little person for the most part, and i try to avoid carrying heavy things. which is one of the reasons i haven't read harry potter much since moving here. i used to read the entire series (in order) at least twice (if not 4 or 5) times a year. but i only have the big hardcovers and they are annoying to carry, especially when terry pratchett stuff is lighter, funnier and more... authentic is almost the word i am looking for.

that made me remember reading the mists of avalon some time in HS, in the waiting room for an appointment in some hospital, and i ended up waiting for like 2 hours and finishing it. weird memory.

um. on to that list of books.

2 robert heinlein books. to be chosen at point of sale.
philip roth. american pastoral and the plot against america.
michael chabon. the yiddish policeman's union.
david foster wallace. infinite jest. (thanks for the suggestion, DC)
the rest of the baroque cycle.
whatever book professor dan chambliss suggests i read.
making money. terry pratchett.
a non-dark tower stephen king novel. suggestions plz.
reader's choice - please suggest. funny science fiction prefered plz.

a final note; i actually was on the same train car as DC last night; we didn't walk on together, and didn't catch the other's eye so we sat apart and i could tell what relish he had for opening whatever he was reading and just focusing on it. i am the same way with reading. i fucking love it, and i love it for the experience of it, but i also like the triumph i feel when i finish two or three novels in a week. keeping with that, i cracked open my latest artemis fowl adventure (boo-yeah) and proceeded to be jerked around by the MTA for next HOUR. an experience that started with the smelliest homeless man in all of new york and the 5 boroughs colonizing my car and taking his shoes off, and ended with me being stuck on 2 different 6 train platforms for 50 minutes and taking a grand total of 4 different trains to get to my house. boooo mta.

3 comments:

Christopher Scott said...

Oh, yes. Infinite Jest. In my top 5. But I stopped recommending it to people because so many folks stop after chapter 2. Be brave. It is rewarding.

prs said...

you're probably already hipped to the neil gaiman stuff, but i love love LOVE ananzi boys. american gods is also good, but ananzi boys is straight up hilarious.

also, julien barnes' arthur and george is a great historical fiction novel (about arthur canon doyle and the invention of the appeals court in victorian england. sounds boring? it's not.)

also also, dana spiotta's eat the document is an amazing book about a 60s radical coming out of hiding after assuming a fake identity through the 70s. amazing.

ruby sneakers said...

yeah, i love gaiman, although i have not read any of his straight-graphic novel stuff; only the novels, short stories, kids stuff and pratchett collaborations.

in FACT, i just came back from the strand with a paperback copy of his new short story collection, fragile things. and i am currently reading the book he wrote on douglas adams and the hitchhikers series, don't panic. and neil gaiman's blog is awesome.