What Are You Reading??

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
it's not bad, but not as good as the reviews would have you believe

I finished re-reading Ishmael recently, and I'd push that book on just about everyone:

http://www.amazon.com/Ishmael-Adventure-Spirit-Daniel-Quinn/dp/0553375407

I also finished The Omnivore's Dilemma a couple of nights ago, which is a fun read, if depressing while in China.  It's hard to get excited about sustainable, local, organic food and then go to the xiaochi place for Steroid Pork in Hydrogenated Pepper Oil.

http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/1594200823

I started Hesse's Siddhartha last night as part of my recent Buddhist kick, brought on by some temple visits.  Next up is some Mark Twain, I think.  The American and British classics are readily available for fairly cheap in Beijing, so I guess this is an opportunity to fill in some gaps in my reading.  (But I don't LIKE Hawthorne...)

Not like Hawthorne? House of the seven gables is one of the greatest books ever.
Anyhoo, I am on a Victorian trip at the moment, so I am reading the complete works of Dickens, Collins, Thackeray, Carlysle, and have just started on Jerome K. Jerome. That man was a genius. His "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow" is highly recommendable.

Jerome K Jerome , I read aeons ago when I was at school. Remember the humour.

Hit the Foreign Languages bookshop this afternoon - but not as big a range as I hoped - spent nowhere near as much as I had budgeted!  But did end up with Ha Jin's In the Pond, St. Exupery's Little Prince, Yann Martel's Life of pi, J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) Memory in Death, and John Humphreys' Lost for words - mangling and manipulation of the English language.

The smell of a bookstore is wonderful!

Life of Pi is delightful.  I get paid again today, so I can finally get a membership at Bookworm.

I've been reading a ton lately, and I like it.  I can feel myself getting smarter.

I finally read Running with Scissors.  I brought it with me and I recently found out my FAO was reading it, so I thought it would be fun to read it as well and then discuss it with her.  Now... I don't think so.

Why, that bad?  Too good for the likes of her?  Too controversial?  Too dirty?

I found an autobiography that Martin Amis wrote when his father died.  DAMN funny so far.  It's waiting for me at the Bookworm when I get off here (Wednesday is Bookworm night).

Why, that bad?  Too good for the likes of her?  Too controversial?  Too dirty?

I just... I don't want to have to explain certain things to her.  But, I certainly don't want her to think that sort of family situation is common in America.  Maybe we will have an abbreviated discussion. 

Sadly finished with Jerome K. Jerome. That man is hilarious. "Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet, must be stolen". Ever so true.
Dug out my old Oxford History of English Literature. Had some fun discovering an old essay on "The Monk" tucked inside of it. Reminded me of those care-free days where one could sit and read all day and then go to the pub, proclaiming that one had worked hard all day. Have decided to pick myself up by the scruff of the neck and get down and dirty with some serious research. Pad and pen ready, flipped to the part where the 18th Century begins and have started to read, while jotting down authors names, date of birth/death and titles of works/date of publication. Seems I have a lot of reading to do. But there is a purpose to it. I learned recently that if you want something, you got to make it happen by yourself. So that is what I am doing. On with the reading!

Want reading work ethic?  Read Money by Martin Amis.  He appears as an important character, helping out the protagonist.  At one point he describes a workday: Shakespeare for 2 hours EVERY morning, then 2 hours of a dead author, then 2 hours of a living author, then more Shakespeare...  how unworthy he makes me feel.

Well, he also sounds unemployed.
But that is indeed discipline.

Finished the J.D. Robb, now onto John Humphreys.  Not as scholarly as Don Watson, (Death Sentence, Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words) but just as entertaining on our use/modification of the language.

I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See.  It was a gift, as everyone thinks I must be dying to read about China now (I am, but not American fiction about China...)

I actually enjoyed myself while reading, but there was quite a lot about foot-binding and it made my feet ache.

I just finished an Aussie novel, but I can't remember his name or the exact title.  Help me out, George: Watching the Stones?  Walking the Stones?  It's quite good, if rather anti-British.

I can't resist: an exerpt from Experience by Martin Amis, a snippet of conversation with his father, Kingsley Amis:

- I finally worked out why I don't like Americans.
I waited.
- Because everyone there is either a Jew or a hick.
- ... What's it like being mildly anti-Semitic?
- It's all right.
- No, what's it feel like being mildly anti-Semitic?  Describe it.
- What's it feel like?  Well. Very mild, as you say.  If I'm watching the end of some new arts programme I might notice the Jewish names in the credits and think, Ah, there's another one.  Or:  Oh, I see.  There's another one.
- And that's all?
- More or less.  You just notice them.  You wouldn't want anyone to do anything about it.  You'd be horrified by that.

It's not how loudly I laughed; it's that I luaghed about it every 3 minutes, for hours- it was just too ridiculous to get past.  Ever have one of those?  Okay, it's not that funny, and it's time to stop laughing and get on with life.  Then you laugh again.