People always think I'm crazy when they hear how many books I'm reading at one time, so I'm glad I'm not the only one. I like to have different types of stories, so I can change it up when I'm not in the mood for something.
Dracula, by Bram Stoker and Victorian London: 1840-1870, by Liza Picard. This is actually part of the research for my novel, but nevertheless I'm enjoying them thoroughly.
currently reading Strangers by Koontz. I've been hauling this book around to various doctor's appointments for months now and am making no progress whatsoever. I've even read three other books in between. I'm not sure exactly what's holding me up about it.
Ditto here - Sometimes hubby jokes there are more books in our bathrooms than on the bookshelves! And I've gotten a LOT of reading done in there LOL
you know thats strange, as that happens to me every time i try to read something by Koontz, seems like it takes me twice as long to read his material than anything else... maybe its his style i dunno ...
On the Nabokov's Lolita topic: LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE. It's my favourite book of all time. Possibly one of the eeriest love stories, but still a very true one. It's Nabokov's flair for diction that really makes the novel a classic, but if you're interested in another book with similar subject matter, you might want to try Teach Me by R.A. Nelson. I read the book years ago, but I still remember it well because 1) I was shocked there wasnt more controversy over the subject matter (it's about a teacher and his student and their relationship); 2) it was well written although nowhere near the level of Nabokov, naturally; and 3) about halfway through, after the relationship has ended, it's the main character's behavior then that is really disconcerting... and interesting. xx I just finished An Unquiet Mind, a book about bipolar disorder, written by Dr Kay Jamison, who is both a Bipolar I sufferer and is considered one of the leading experts in treating mood disorders. The book is broken up into four parts --the first is about her childhood before the onset and when it first started making itself known in her late teens; the second is about her struggles about treatment and getting it to work properly, as well as professional and ethical dilemmas; the third was about her love life and how she learned to heal; and the fourth and final section is about her academic work. I couldnt have hated it more. Throughout the book, but especially in part four, Jamison seems to write preach with a holier-than-thou attitude, especially when it comes to why she thinks she's the best expert in the world --because not only is she a patient but a doctor too, and she thinks that if you dont have bipolar disorder, then you cant understand it. I find this to be a gross underestimation of the general population. While it's true I will never know what Jamison has endured to the degree that she has, she will never know how much it hurts to be attacked just for being there, just for being a support structure --during a person's manic phases especially. She'll never know the personal sacrifice her brother had to make to pay off her $50,000 debts that she racked up during manic phases. Mental illness affects family and friends too --granted in very different ways. I'm not saying that family and friends are victims, mind you; I'm just saying that she seems to think that people with bipolar disorder are alone in this war inside their minds, and most people arent unless they actively try to. And secondly, Jamison also brought up moral and ethical implications; should people with bipolar disorder have children, as this is a hereditary disease? Should she be allowed to treat people when she herself is also suffering? I wont say anything about my opinion, but especially when it comes to having children, Jamison says something about how not only should people with bipolar not worry about having children, but they actively should try to conceive! She said she feels concerned that people with bipolar disorder are becoming an "endangered species" and that she fears the consequences of erradicating this long-term mental illness especially when it comes to the worlds of art and literature. Because obviously if you're an artist or an author, you're barking mad. And that's the final thing I'll say about it --Jamison is obsessed with bipolar disorder being the same thing as complete insanity. When it's not the same thing at all. She definitely romanticizes the idea of madness (and I'm not saying that people with bipolar are crazy; she is) and says that she thinks she lives a life better than that of any "sane" person because her manias are so awesome. If I were mentally ill, I certainly wouldnt want her treating me. Not because she's bipolar, but because her ethics and attitudes are just mindblowingly irritating. I dont think I'm any better than her because she has a mental illness; why does she insist of shouting to the heavens that she's better than me?
Yes, Lolita is tremendous. It's the kind of book that inspires one to write fiction because you are holding in your hands a remarkable example of the potential of fiction and written language. And at the same time, if you're an aspiring writer it may also instill a mild sense of despair because you know damn well you'll never write anything as good. Someone said something similar about Conrad, but I apply it to Nabokov and this book. And English wasn't even Nabokov's first language.
I think this is actually the reason he writes the way he does in English, in terms of the playfulness in his writing. Rather than taking language for granted and treating it as something almost transparent, just a means of communication, he seems to take great joy in exploring its ideosyncracies, its arbitrariness, its sounds and patterns and structures. Coming to English later and learning it formally, rather than being raised with it, encourages the kind of reflection a lot of native speakers never really give the language.
But Nabokov was raised with it. His family spoke Russian, French, and English in the home and he was reading in English as a child. (Conrad, in contrast, learned English as an adult.)
Re: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies I've been wanting to read this for a while but have been scared to in case it's rubbish. Worth reading, you think???
I am taking a small venture into Fantasy Land at the moment reading Laurie J. Mark's Fire Logic. It's my second stab at reading a true Fantasy story. My last try was with a piece by Mercedes Lackey that I binned because it had so much typeset trickery that it gave me a migraine. Fire Logic at least appears not to suffer from the same.
I just read a fantastic gem called Mr. Monster. It is the sequel to I Am Not A Serial Killer. The author is Dan Wells. I highly recommend this series.
I just finished a collection of poems by Eliza Griswold, though I had trouble understanding the context of many of them. I still haven't finished the Ernesto Guevara Reader, but I'm starting this collection of writing and speeches concerning the world's aging population by Julia Alvarez.
I got a couple yesterday from the library. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, Out of the Dark by David Weber (not positive on the name), and The Eye of the World, the first of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jorden.
It's taking me forever to get through To Kill A Mockingbird, mostly because I read other books and keep putting it down, but I vow to finish it before I start anything else. I'm halfway through.
I'm currently reading two at the moment. My school mandated reading is currently All Quiet Along the Western Front which I've really been enjoying so far. I'm also muddling through Les Misérables. Hard reading, but understandable.
I'm a big fan of Wheel of Time. Just started book five The Fires of Heaven. I'm also getting seriously hooked on books about brain science. Just finished one called The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain by Barbara Strauch. I gotta say, it makes me feel a lot better about myself when I get up to do something, and five seconds later I can't remember what I got up to do.
Im reading Christopher Hitchens 'God is not great' and Boston Teran 'God is a bullet'. Both are truly fantastic reads, im not looking forward to finishing these books
