books a million
oh, man. we've been tagged. tommy's busy at work today, and i just want to get this out of the way, so i'll go first. this was a meme i was absolutely praying would not get passed on to me because it would reveal the multiple ways in which i am a sham. graduated with honors as an english major at the university of virginia? check. minored in italian literature and therefore should be expert on dante, boccaccio, calvino, etc? check. been reading for over 20 years now? check.
but the really terrible thing of it all is this: i don't really like reading classic stuff. i didn't always used to be like this - i used to read voraciously - but somehow being an english major killed my love of literature. also, i realized recently that i have developed the attention spam of a gnat. a 25 year-old giant blonde gnat. i can barely stand to read a single blog post before i am running off to do something else, and when i do read something, i am inevitably looking for a limpid pool of crap in which my mind can relax, which might explain why i've read nearly all the works that dan brown has put out, but have apparently repressed the plot lines of everything from paradise lost to moby dick. the horror. i should really change this meme to "books i shouldn't have read but did anyways." or "books i have in fact read but for the life of me can't remember what happened in them, like jane eyre, there was that crazy attic lady, and crime & punishment...err...might have had something to do with an axe?"
but anyway. enough rambling. here goes!
1. invisible cities, by italo calvino. this is my problem with calvino: i invariably attempt to read his works in italian first, and it always turns into such an exercise in frustration that i never finish it and i'm also so stubborn that i don't want to give it a shot in english. my attempts were successful for the baron in the trees (il barone rampante), mostly because i read it under the guidance of an italian professor at uva, and because it's (i think) simpler and more straightforward than most of his other stories. i started to read se una notte d'inverno una viaggiatore and crapped out on that partway through, and everybody i know raves about invisible cities but unless i become fluent in italian in the next few years (very unlikely) i will probably, in my pretentious stubbornness, not pick it up.
2. 100 years of solitude. did anyone else become SO INCREDIBLY CONFUSED by this book? something like 1/3 of the way through my head wanted to explode because i couldn't keep everything straight. like, everybody had the same name. me no like confusing stories. so it's just gathering dust somewhere on my bookshelf.
3. Sweet Valley High: Jessica is a Slut. that's not really the title, but i can't remember it and the internets won't give it up. i was obsessed with the sweet valley high series when i was a wee lass, and my parents catered to that obsession, except for this one particular book. they had heard from the parents of another friend that it was too racy for me to read, and thus it was banned. i've always wondered what happened in it...my friend told me jessica got her butt touched by some mustachioed dude, but beyond that i'm not sure. frankly, i'm stilled a little pissed at my parents. they let me read the one where the chick died of a bad reaction to cocaine, but not the butt-touching one? hello?!?!
4. jane austen's mansfield park. yes, i am one of those annoyingly stereotypical girls who decided they wanted to be an english major when they were 14 because of pride & prejudice and proceeded to race through every other austen book except mansfield park, which, by all accounts, does suck. i do still really adore every other book of hers, though. and w/o jane austen, we would never have had colin firth's mr. darcy, which i believe is one of the greatest gifts of the human race. funnily enough, i HAVE read the "sequel" to pride & prejudice, mr. darcy takes a wife: pride and prejudice continues. let me excerpt a back-cover-reader-review of this near-pornographic masterpiece of glorified fanfic:
Some parts were hilarious and some parts a walk on the wild side for Austen characters. Whoa Darcy! Whoa! Curl up and Enjoy!"
5. snow crash by neal stephenson. what can i say. the first birthday that we were dating, tommy gave me this book. lucky for him, i didn't dump his ass. but i've felt bad for not making it through more than 50 pages of it ever since.
UPDATE: oh yeah, i guess i've got to tag somebody. apologies in advance with burdening you with this meme, but i choose...err...i know! the pygs! (but don't feel obligated. i'll just take it personally if you choose not to do the meme is all.)
Comments
hey, that was AMONG a veritable treasure trove of birthday gifts that were lavished upon you!
oh right. you also got me a box set of belle and sebastian cds that i already had. YOU DON'T KNOW ME AT ALL.
Snow Crash is definitely worth the read. One of my alltime faves.
But Neal Stephenson can't write an ending to save his life.
done and done, but not well. I'm waiting for LJG to tackle this one, it's right up her Ivyish League English Major alley.
Okay, I admit, I'm a big Jane Eyre fan (sorry, Catherine). Then again, that cruel obsession did nothing but turn me into a misunderstood, friendless child burdened with a weird longing for shadowy moors, decaying mansions, long wild tresses, and that stud Rochester.
ANYWAY.
Rather than relive that, how about: Seminal Books of My Childhood. Izzy Willy Nilly ring a bell, G??? Oh, and I totally feel you on that Sweet Valley High thing. That, and, uh, The Babysitters Club (shut up, you guys read it too!). And anything by Madeline L'Engle and Judy Bloom, OF COURSE.
i actually remember really liking jane eyre (and crime & punishment, for that matter). it's just that i have the memory of a 97 year old and the plots of books disappear from my head about 24 hours after i finish them. for example - i read mcewen's "saturday" this weekend, and now i can't even remember the lead character's name! of course, i somehow have every detail of "angels & demons" burned into my head. the irony.
My secret shame is I put down Atonement and never picked it up again.
I'm glad to know it's not just me with a sometimes sieve-brain for books. Maybe I've reached my saturation point - no more reading for me!
i liked atonement! it was about, um, war...right? see, the books i really don't like i remember particularly well, but everything else i am just left with a generally favorable impression and one or two major points of plot; hence 'axe' in c&p or 'briony is a bitch' for atonement. i thought saturday was pretty good...a little too, like obvious though. and structured. of course i read it all on one day, sunday, the day of my brother's graduation when i a) didn't pay attention to any of the ceremonies and b) nearly blacked out from heat exhaustion so my impression of it may be skewed.
Okay, just thinking of books I like (and finished, and remembered). I have to put a plug in for Three Junes if you haven't already read it.
...and on to the amazon wish list it goes! wheee.
of the several people i have seen take on this meme, your inclusion, catherine, of invisible cities is the only one that made me cringe -- it's so short and so ridiculously good! i would suggest reading a good english translation now and then coming back to an italian version in 10 years when you are really fluent in italian so that you'll actually understand the subtler points of his original language, which i will never know, but still give him credit for regardless.
I like Neil Stephenson, but I got about 100 pages into Snow Crash and couldn't stay awake for more. I don't regret not finishing it.
You oughtta give 100 Years of Solitude a second chance, though. It does have a cyclical feel to it, and the names repeat, and the further you read the faster the cycles go, and the effect is (I think) intentionally dizzying, but it's worthwhile to read the whole thing. One of my favorites.
I have to add in a cheer for 100 Years of Solitude as well. I was supposed to read it for summer reading before my senior year of high school. We were meant to read it in spanish, but since I had to look up about 100 words on the first page of the book I broke down and read the english translation. It was confusing but also really bizarre and acid trippy. I got to know the family tree in the front of the book really well. Anyway, if you want to switch from Italian to Spanish, I still have the spanish version, feel free to borrow anytime.
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