It is good to remember how lucky Curt and I really are, all things considered. Everything is fine. I have the luxury of whining because nothing is really wrong. So, I’m thankful.
Finished the first “book” of the Illiad. What’s Greek for “jackass”? :P
Busy at work, vacation unpacked. Perfect time to redo the blog I barely use.
Very sad to hear about the passing of Friend Dodds’ cat, Lord Underfoot. He was a bit cranky as cats usually are – but a good cat, nonetheless. Farewell, little fellow.
Recently broke free from the Reading List and devoured
The pictures here are strange now. They won’t be strange later. Toodle-oo.
I like lists. I like books. I have compiled “greatest hits”-type lists for each genre, and will read them all this year. The lists are meant to be semi-representative of the different sub-genres in each of the larger genres. I am exploring, see.
The Ought-To Books
1. Literary: Ulysses by James Joyce
2. Satire: Catch-22 by The Guy Who Is Not Kurt Vonnegut
3. Can’t Finish It: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4. Epic Poetry: The Iliad by Homer
5. To Prove I Still Hate Steinbeck: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
6. Political, With Animals: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Science Fiction Books
1. I Dunno, I Like the Title: Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Hard: Foundation 1 by Isaac Asimov
3. Cerebral: 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke
4. Old-Time: War of the Worlds by HG Wells
5. Modern: Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
6. Ditto to #1: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Mystery Books
1. Old: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
2. Noir: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
3. 1950s: Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
4. Historical: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
5. Modern: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
6. Cozy: Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown
Romance Books
1. Steamy: Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
2. Improper: Room With a View by E.M. Forster
3. Written By A Man: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
(I’m quite sure Sparks will make me physically ill.)
4. Classic Trash: Whatever book I can get ahold of by Danielle Steel
5. The Bodice Ripper: The Last Viking by Sandra Hill (It was meant to be…)
6. Naughty: The Story of O by Pauline Reage
Fantasy Books
1. Nearly Canonical: The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
2. Blowhard: Game of Thrones by George R. R. R. R. R. R. Martin
3. The Rare Standalone: Tigana by Guy Gaveriel Kay
4. Mythical: The Once and Future King by T.H. White
5. Blowhard, Take II: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
6. Modern: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Horror Books
1. Uncle Stevie: Pet Sematary by Stephen King
2. It’s a Squid, Everyone: The Call of Cthulu and Other Such Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
3. Monsters: The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene
4. Morality Tale: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Haunted House: Hell House by Richard Matheson
6. They Say He’s Good: The Books of Blood by Clive Barker
Non-Fiction/Biography Books
1. Historical Autobiography: The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
2. History: The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel Brown
3. Hollywood Biography: Love Is Nothing: Ava Gardner by Lee Server
4. Historical Biography: The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
5. Confucius Say What?: The Analects of Confucius by Someone (I Do Not Remember)
6. Science: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice To All Creation by Olivia Judson
I love a list, and I love these little books. I love the saucy, racy ladies. I love the tough, tortured detectives and the lurid plotlines. Yay! :)
I wish I were Diane Setterfield. This is a nearly perfect book. It stumbled very, very slightly at the end, but on the whole was magnificent. What a story! I only wish I had a big, cold English house and a fire and snow to go with it. I would highly suggest, if you are going to read this, to get the audiobook version of it. It may take getting used to if you’re not, but for me I’ve grown accustomed to books being read to me by strangers – it passes the time while I perform mundane tasks like laundry and dish washing.
This book now occupies the second place on my books read for the year. It does not unseat Norrell & Strange, but it came damn close. ;) I search eagerly for a contender!
It’s about (and narrated by) an older woman who makes friends with a young woman who is having an affair with a very young man. Older woman is “obsessed” with young woman, young woman is “obsessed” with young man, etc. There was a movie.
I liked this book, but did not quite understand why it creeped people out. I guess the idea of someone being lonely enough to become obsessed with someone is harder for most people to understand than being obsessed with someone because…well, actually. When you think about it, while the two women are treated differently, they really are obsessed for the same reason. The older woman is a spinster, completely alone except for a dying cat. The younger woman is a 40-something year old who is constantly portrayed as having just fallen into her life, rather than choosing it – a disconnection which snowballs into the subtler, but just as devastating loneliness that leads to her having an affair with a 15-year old.
Barbara (the older woman) certainly had moments of raging megalomania – but what would you expect to be the result of prolonged loneliness? It’s not so much the space without, really – having been very lonely in my life, it’s really your mind that starts preying on you. Too many thoughts and no one to share them with. She actually confesses something to this effect during the book; she’s not unaware, after all, of her situation. Sheba (the 40-something), however, is completely unaware of the reason compelling her to behave the way she does. It’s an interesting little story.
That’ll do me for book reviews for the year.