Day 298: Questioning?
It is January Literary Analysis time—time to think about what's going through my eyes word-wise. A couple of exciting things happened to me book-wise in the last month. I was given a Scribd subscription for Xmas (read about that here) and I got my first Quarterly box from Book Riot. Today. After I had, just a couple of days ago, sent the email to say my box hadn't arrived. It is like a weird phenomena that happens at work: people wait for all sorts of different amounts of time to report their loved ones 'missing', but as soon as they do, they turn up. Same with my box. Quarterly kindly refunded my card, and then, knock, knock, there it is. I crawled back to them apologising for jumping the gun and they ended up charging me only for the box and not the postage. Good customer service. [And just so you don't think I am a free-loading whiner, the approximate due date of the box was mid December—I did wait a decent amount of time before penning a friendly but questioning note on its whereabouts.] The box is like a little present to myself every three months, and the main inclusion was Max Barry's novel Lexicon: A Novel, complete with post-it notes throughout the book which add a little to the writer's vision. I also got a calender, an excert from Never Have I Ever by Katie Heaney and a notebook and pencils. All very word-nerd. I'm reducing my reading pile, but surely the Quarterly book needs to be added straight away. Surely?
Q: What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.
A: The pile-reducing project continues. I want it to number a lucky thirteen. Currently the number is thirty-eight. I finished Chuck Palahniuk's Damned and immediately replaced it with his Invisible Monsters Remix (a disconcerting book—read the intro and then do what it says to do: it is quite hard!). I also finished Anna Funder's All That I Am. Two down, yay! Well, one really. But I put four new ones in: Lexicon, the two books I am reading on Scibd (Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, The Tangled Story of English Spelling (anyone who doubted my nerdiness before can rest assured of it now!) and Girl in a Coma) and my Goodreads win Dean Blake's Surface Children. I have to be honest with you (because what is the point otherwise?) but I had a very bad thought the other day when I was reading The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and thinking how it paralleled Flowers for Algernon. I thought: maybe all the books are starting to seem similar to each other, and then, is there any reason to keep reading?? I know. Pure evil! But then Douglas Coupland's Girl in a Coma took such a strange twist that I had to recant. I had briefly skimmed the synopsis (as I do; I didn't want to know too much), seen the word 'apocalypse', and assumed a certain amount of hyperbole was being employed to sell the book. But what started as a sort of word version of 'The Big Chill' has flipped into a completely different generic dimension. It's wonderful. And it reminds me that even if two people sat down to write exactly the same book, the end results would be two completely different books. Similarities enrich the literary matrix. No more bad thoughts. But definitely need more reading hours because the two-out, five-in equation does not bode well for going in the right pile-reduction direction.
List_Addict Irene
Q: Out of the 16 books that will be turned into a movie adaptation, which one are you most looking forward to seeing this year? (Article Link)
A: Interesting question. Without reading the book first, I would probably choose Serena with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper—mainly for that reason. I am having to try and let go of my initial judgement of Cooper as a himbo. On personal interest, but not sure how well it would work, I'd toy with Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, because I would like to walk it myself. But if I read the books first, then it would be a competition between Divergent, Dark Places and Gone Girl. Gillian Flynn is doing alright for herself, isn't she?
Q: What was the worst book you've ever read?
A: I'm blessed with amnesia regarding this. Looking through my current 'read' list on Goodreads there are maybe two (from sixty-six since I started my account) I 'wasn't enamoured with' but I would hardly say the were the 'worst'. I find something in every book, even if it is a stockpile of what-not-to-do's for a day when maybe I change over to the other side of the written word.
Q: What foods or beverages have you spilled on a book while reading? Anything good?
A: I think I squashed a mozzie on a book once. I hope it was a murder mystery. A little bit of blood never goes astray on one of those. The most likely food substances on books for me would come from chocolate biscuit smudges. I read a bit at meals on solo travelling jaunts, but that is usually on a kindle or iPad and a damp cloth quickly fixes that.
Q: Do you pictures characters as popular film or tv actors? Or do you create a whole new person in your head?
A: Currently I am reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and I am annoyed that characters already have looks and even voices. I prefer hand picking them from the detritus in my brain.
Q: Out of all the authors you've read books by, who's brain would you want to pick the most?
A: Mmm. I am so bad at talking with people. I always find these types of questions so hard to answer. Do I have to have dinner with three awe-inspiring people? Do I want to be marooned on an island with my nomination of the world's most interesting person? If I have seat 2A in the pointy end of the plane, couldn't I just watch movies from a horizontal position while alternatively drinking glasses of champagne and water through a straw amd eating with non-plastic cutlery, rather than spending this rare opportunity chatting? Could Chuck Palahniuk or James Joyce or Neil Gaiman maybe just send me an email of things they are thinking occasionally? I am happy with that.
The Outfit
Clearing the Closet: It’s time to go demin skirt, falling apart, much loved. I will miss you.
Jumper: SheInside
Skirt: Op-shopped
Shoes: Irregular Choice 'Sparkly Cosmo'
Photographer de Jour: B——
Who wore it better?
Sharing the love with:
Q: What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.
A: The pile-reducing project continues. I want it to number a lucky thirteen. Currently the number is thirty-eight. I finished Chuck Palahniuk's Damned and immediately replaced it with his Invisible Monsters Remix (a disconcerting book—read the intro and then do what it says to do: it is quite hard!). I also finished Anna Funder's All That I Am. Two down, yay! Well, one really. But I put four new ones in: Lexicon, the two books I am reading on Scibd (Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, The Tangled Story of English Spelling (anyone who doubted my nerdiness before can rest assured of it now!) and Girl in a Coma) and my Goodreads win Dean Blake's Surface Children. I have to be honest with you (because what is the point otherwise?) but I had a very bad thought the other day when I was reading The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and thinking how it paralleled Flowers for Algernon. I thought: maybe all the books are starting to seem similar to each other, and then, is there any reason to keep reading?? I know. Pure evil! But then Douglas Coupland's Girl in a Coma took such a strange twist that I had to recant. I had briefly skimmed the synopsis (as I do; I didn't want to know too much), seen the word 'apocalypse', and assumed a certain amount of hyperbole was being employed to sell the book. But what started as a sort of word version of 'The Big Chill' has flipped into a completely different generic dimension. It's wonderful. And it reminds me that even if two people sat down to write exactly the same book, the end results would be two completely different books. Similarities enrich the literary matrix. No more bad thoughts. But definitely need more reading hours because the two-out, five-in equation does not bode well for going in the right pile-reduction direction.
Q: Out of the 16 books that will be turned into a movie adaptation, which one are you most looking forward to seeing this year? (Article Link)
A: Interesting question. Without reading the book first, I would probably choose Serena with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper—mainly for that reason. I am having to try and let go of my initial judgement of Cooper as a himbo. On personal interest, but not sure how well it would work, I'd toy with Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, because I would like to walk it myself. But if I read the books first, then it would be a competition between Divergent, Dark Places and Gone Girl. Gillian Flynn is doing alright for herself, isn't she?
Q: What was the worst book you've ever read?
A: I'm blessed with amnesia regarding this. Looking through my current 'read' list on Goodreads there are maybe two (from sixty-six since I started my account) I 'wasn't enamoured with' but I would hardly say the were the 'worst'. I find something in every book, even if it is a stockpile of what-not-to-do's for a day when maybe I change over to the other side of the written word.
Q: What foods or beverages have you spilled on a book while reading? Anything good?
A: I think I squashed a mozzie on a book once. I hope it was a murder mystery. A little bit of blood never goes astray on one of those. The most likely food substances on books for me would come from chocolate biscuit smudges. I read a bit at meals on solo travelling jaunts, but that is usually on a kindle or iPad and a damp cloth quickly fixes that.
Q: Do you pictures characters as popular film or tv actors? Or do you create a whole new person in your head?
A: Currently I am reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and I am annoyed that characters already have looks and even voices. I prefer hand picking them from the detritus in my brain.
Q: Out of all the authors you've read books by, who's brain would you want to pick the most?
A: Mmm. I am so bad at talking with people. I always find these types of questions so hard to answer. Do I have to have dinner with three awe-inspiring people? Do I want to be marooned on an island with my nomination of the world's most interesting person? If I have seat 2A in the pointy end of the plane, couldn't I just watch movies from a horizontal position while alternatively drinking glasses of champagne and water through a straw amd eating with non-plastic cutlery, rather than spending this rare opportunity chatting? Could Chuck Palahniuk or James Joyce or Neil Gaiman maybe just send me an email of things they are thinking occasionally? I am happy with that.
Who wore it better?
Sharing the love with:
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