Weekend routine

I must say, I'm starting to love weekends. LOVE them. And I've gotten into a bit of routine with them but I couldn't be happier. Allowing yourself to sleep in, drink a lot of coffee and read all day, then repeat on Sunday, along with learning to roast. My weekends have become just that. I make coffee and start catching up on all the websites/blogs I love (NPR's book section is also becoming one of my favorites now, but duh, you guys have probably been reading it forever). Rumpus which has been a staple in my life has now become Chicken Soup For the Soul for me (sorry I had to go there). Then when that gets old, I switch over to books that I seem to carry with me all over the house like a security blanket.

The picture above is the blanket of the moment. It's called First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Authors and is exactly what the title says. 41 authors and a short intro to when and in what their story was first published in and how it influenced their later works. I'm only 10 authors in and LOVE most of the stories. And with the authors I am familiar with, it is great to read their first work and compare it to what I've read of theirs (as if they were your friend and you were thrilled to see how they progressed).

This is a collection I would recommend for hardcore readers and for those who read once in a while. The stories are truly short, some of them only 10 pages. Perfect for those who don't like to commit and great for those whose life goal is to read every great classic author under the sun but overwhelmed at the thought of it. Unfortunately the copy I'm reading doesn't belong to me (Caitlin, if it was mine, I would send it to you after I was finished with it) but I will definitely be on the hunt for it when I do my usual used book shopping.

Oh yeah, if you haven't heard, I'm moving to Vermont more than the 3 months originally planned. So expect more Nelson Algren book reviews in the future...

Love...

In The Time Of, Barf.

I was going to wait to review this book until I was finished reading it, and well, with about 47 pages to go, it has become a chore. Last week, I tried to staying up all night to read it; many hours later (yes, insomnia has followed me to Vermont), with only making the slightest dent, I realized I was in for a bigger task.

I can't help thinking about the movie The Notebook when reading this (another barf). Why is it that old people get a pass on cuteness and romance? What about all the shit in between? Both allude to idea that love, like everything else in life, is not perfect (duh. Which brings me to...Romeo, where are you dude?). But I haven't finished reading it so who knows (if you know me, endings can make or break a book, so I can eat my words up shortly).

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a poetic writer. A verbose, poetic writer who loves detail, detail, flowers, and detail. He forces an intimacy with the reader, leaves nothing to the imagination. Does Florentino Ariza get the girl (Fermina Daza) in the end? Does he deserve her? Does she deserve him? Or does he croak like a pathetic fool from old age before ever having a relationship with her? Maybe I need to finish the book.

Love...Cholera Continued.

"Without intending to, without even knowing it, he repeated until his dying day that there was no one with more common sense, no stonecutter more obstinate, no manager more lucid or dangerous, than a poet."

Love In The Time of Cholera

"Their love affairs were slow and difficult and were often disturbed by sinister omens, and life seemed interminable. At nightfall, at the oppressive moment of transition, a storm of carnivorous mosquitoes rose out of the swamps, and a tender breath of human shit, warm and sad, stirred the certainty of death in the depths of one's soul."

Brave New World

Remember a few posts back I started reading Brave New World? And then never spoke of it again? Well I made it part of my Labor Day weekend. I bought it at Caphill Books a while back after reading 1984, in one of those panics of shit-there's-so-many-classics-I-haven't-read-yet.

I had to stop myself from comparing it to 1984, though I vaguely remember the plot...It also reminded me of Daniel Quinn's Ismael. Like the previous book I read, I couldn't sympathize with any of the characters. They all sucked as people, even John, but maybe that was the point. I enjoyed the dark humor (or smart people may call it satire), the ending, but that's about it.


PS: Is it wrong every time I think of the novel, I start singing it to the melody of The Little Mermaid's "A Whole New World"? Everyone does that right? Right?

His Illegal Self continued

I just finished reading His Illegal Self. It was a good, fast summer read but nothing more than that. I'm not compelled to pick up his other books. The ending was cheesy (it ends happily in my opinion) and overall, the novel doesn't elicit any sympathy in any of the characters (but they didn't annoy me either). However, I did like how the first person narrative would switch back and forth between Che (the child that is taken) and Dial (the woman who is sent to take him); As I Lay Dying did a similar thing.

I'm ready for a classic again...

Blogs and lists

One blog leads to another...I stumbled upon a blog called The Displaced English Major. Her blog is goal oriented which led me to the list she is following. The list is from Modern Library which actually I should note that there are two...I started skimming the list to see how cool (or not cool) I was. I usually don't like lists (my exception are ones from friends that hardly seem to fail me) for a few reasons, the biggest reason being the anxiety it causes me to feel that when I die, I will not have read all the books I've wanted to read (anybody feel me on this, or is that just sad?). Perhaps it's worth checking out to you.

PS: Flannery O'Connor didn't make the list but John Irving did (fuck you modern library!)
PSS: But all the books I have read on the lists are some of my favorites (damn, your love hurts!)
PSSS: In case you're interested as I was, I've read 17 on the board's list and 21 on the reader's list. ::Sigh:: What about you?