Aug. 28, 2011 at 12:30pm with 1 note
botw
Book of the Week: The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides probably has the freshest writing style I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t pronounce his last name, but nonetheless I love him. I haven’t been so enthralled with a book since The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Virgin Suicides is a perfect mixture of commonplace setting and coming-of-age noir. His words are delicious. I couldn’t pick just one quote: ‘And it was then Cecilia gave orally what was to be her only form of a suicide note, and a useless one at that, because she was going to live: “Obviously, Doctor,” she said, “you’ve never been a thirteen-year-old girl.”’ ‘She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.’ ‘It was the greatest show of common effort in our neighborhood, all those lawyers, doctors, and mortgage bankers locked arm in arm in the trench, with our mothers bringing out orange Kool-Aid, and for a moment our century was noble again.’ ‘…Trip spent his days wandering the halls, hoping for Lux to appear, the most naked person with clothes on he had ever seen.’

Book of the Week: The Virgin Suicides

Jeffrey Eugenides probably has the freshest writing style I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t pronounce his last name, but nonetheless I love him. I haven’t been so enthralled with a book since The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Virgin Suicides is a perfect mixture of commonplace setting and coming-of-age noir. His words are delicious. I couldn’t pick just one quote:

‘And it was then Cecilia gave orally what was to be her only form of a suicide note, and a useless one at that, because she was going to live: “Obviously, Doctor,” she said, “you’ve never been a thirteen-year-old girl.”’

‘She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.’

‘It was the greatest show of common effort in our neighborhood, all those lawyers, doctors, and mortgage bankers locked arm in arm in the trench, with our mothers bringing out orange Kool-Aid, and for a moment our century was noble again.’

‘…Trip spent his days wandering the halls, hoping for Lux to appear, the most naked person with clothes on he had ever seen.’

Aug. 23, 2011 at 9:21am
botw
Book of the Week: Ignorance Milan Kundera is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  He just gets it. Ignorance is the story of a Czech ex-pat living in Paris and a Czech ex-pat living in Copenhagen (hollah!), and how their lives have overlapped and underlapped (why isn’t this a word?) and mirrored each other. This is a book about memory and longing and loneliness and the power of nostalgia. It’s about the ignorance of youth. Good stuff, especially coming back from a year abroad (not like my time abroad was anything compared to 20 years of emmigration to avoid Soviet rule in Czechoslovakia). The story does not end satisfactorily but, for the first time, I’ve realized that’s not really important. The characters here, while likeable, are not important. What is important is the points which their lives, actions, and thoughts bring up. I know that this is kind of what LITERATURE is all about, but I guess I’m only coming to that realization now. Neuroscience majors ftw. “After such a long time, her body, her face were finally being seen and appreciated, and because they were pleasing, a man invited her to share life with him.”

Book of the Week: Ignorance

Milan Kundera is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  He just gets it. Ignorance is the story of a Czech ex-pat living in Paris and a Czech ex-pat living in Copenhagen (hollah!), and how their lives have overlapped and underlapped (why isn’t this a word?) and mirrored each other. This is a book about memory and longing and loneliness and the power of nostalgia. It’s about the ignorance of youth. Good stuff, especially coming back from a year abroad (not like my time abroad was anything compared to 20 years of emmigration to avoid Soviet rule in Czechoslovakia).

The story does not end satisfactorily but, for the first time, I’ve realized that’s not really important. The characters here, while likeable, are not important. What is important is the points which their lives, actions, and thoughts bring up. I know that this is kind of what LITERATURE is all about, but I guess I’m only coming to that realization now. Neuroscience majors ftw.

“After such a long time, her body, her face were finally being seen and appreciated, and because they were pleasing, a man invited her to share life with him.”

Aug. 2, 2011 at 9:20pm
botw
Book of the Week: Scenes from Married Life I know this is a little late…but here is last week’s BotW. Scenes from Married Life is by William Cooper. I picked up a worn-out copy for one quid at Spitalfields Market in London. I initially enjoyed it because of Cooper’s city setting - every street, park, and train station name Cooper uses in his book caused me to bubble up with love for Londontown. In the end, however, Cooper turns out to be a rather persnickety, totally sexist, slighly racist, and thoroughly dull narrator. He smugly describes his success with matrimony but, given the choice, I’d choose singledom over his boring, sickeningly sweet version of married life anyday. Probably the most British book I’ve ever read: “I may also take this opening to observe that in my experience there is nobody like an American for summing up on the spot exactly how expensive a restaurant is.”

Book of the Week: Scenes from Married Life

I know this is a little late…but here is last week’s BotW. Scenes from Married Life is by William Cooper. I picked up a worn-out copy for one quid at Spitalfields Market in London. I initially enjoyed it because of Cooper’s city setting - every street, park, and train station name Cooper uses in his book caused me to bubble up with love for Londontown. In the end, however, Cooper turns out to be a rather persnickety, totally sexist, slighly racist, and thoroughly dull narrator. He smugly describes his success with matrimony but, given the choice, I’d choose singledom over his boring, sickeningly sweet version of married life anyday. Probably the most British book I’ve ever read:

“I may also take this opening to observe that in my experience there is nobody like an American for summing up on the spot exactly how expensive a restaurant is.”