Book talk.
Mar. 21st, 2004 04:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenFirst day everyone's gone for spring break, and I'm left to my own devices. Everything feels very empty -- and I mean everything, in different ways. Again I wonder why we never get the chance to spend time with Tech friends properly, when there are no sets hanging over our heads. We go off to our separate homes, admittedly to see people we've missed, but still, it seems somewhat sad. Maybe we get enough of each other, spending so many hours a week in study groups together, but I doubt it. It's just not the same.
Anyhow, you probably know how it works: once you have the free time, you no longer feel so eager to do things as you did while flicking. I made it a point to stockpile things I could do this spring break -- stacks of anime, shelves of manga, pile of video games -- but now I think, "Hm, I don't really feel like any of those." And then there's that annoying wishing you had the things you didn't bring, like my needlepoint project or the paper castle I haven't touched in years.
I'm in the middle of reading several books, but none of them suit my mood, and yet I'm a bit wary of starting another. But I was thinking, it seems like nothing I'm reading is light and fluffy, something I can read in bed until I'm too sleepy and put it down. Or, it doesn't even need to be fluffy, but it just doesn't include the books I'm reading right now. Mostly, I've been wanting to reread a lot of series, and I think when I do that I tell myself I need to pay more attention, savor the beauty of the words, and thus as I get sleepy, I start fighting with myself, and forcing myself back over passages I didn't quite absorb, and . . . well, it's not as unpleasant as it sounds, but that's not the mood I'm aiming for, you know?
So I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, which I really don't let myself fall asleep during, but I probably shouldn't care so much since I'll keep reading it over and over again anyway. (But everyone else always seems to remember more of it than I do...) I'm also reading Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, which is one of those business type of books written for people who don't read. Which is to say, it's very "fluffy" -- and what's with the two page chapters?! -- but the subject matter is something I think I need to pay attention to, so that's also out as a "read yourself to sleep" book. Next we have Spiral manga, which I'd love to be able to read for sustained amounts of time, but the Japanese just becomes a strain. Of course it's my language ability, but all the conspiracy talk and such make it a more difficult read than shoujo stuff like Fushigi Yuugi, which I didn't have much trouble with. Or Card Captor Sakura, even. Maybe I should start Alice 19th; Yuu Watase's work seems to agree well with me. And then I just started reading some Nietzsche, although I'm still reading introductory material and nothing yet he actually wrote. I so love the Modern Library books, but they do tend to distract me from the actual works with their supplementary text.
So, yeah, I'd say starting another book would be a bad idea. But I have this temptation to start rereading the Hyperion Cantos. Dan Simmons is rather long-winded and convoluted, but in all the right ways, it seems, to make me sleepy. My eyes glaze over and my brain shuts down because his concepts are so difficult, and yet thought-provoking and worthwhile. One of those series I'd love to force on people, except it doesn't seem to get a very good reception, and they are four very long books, and the first one has the most unsatisfying "ending" I've ever seen outside of anime.
I guess I should have brought some real fluff books, like Tamora Pierce or David Eddings. I have Belgarath the Sorcerer, but I want more Silk. Similarly, I want to reread the Alanna series for George Cooper. Don't mind me and my crushes on shady (but charming!) fictional characters. ^^;;
So I'm stuck. I guess I'll go read more Spiral. It seems the most promising, especially now as I get into the part that, by the author's own confession, starts to read like a "B action movie" (not that I know what that means).
Anyhow, you probably know how it works: once you have the free time, you no longer feel so eager to do things as you did while flicking. I made it a point to stockpile things I could do this spring break -- stacks of anime, shelves of manga, pile of video games -- but now I think, "Hm, I don't really feel like any of those." And then there's that annoying wishing you had the things you didn't bring, like my needlepoint project or the paper castle I haven't touched in years.
I'm in the middle of reading several books, but none of them suit my mood, and yet I'm a bit wary of starting another. But I was thinking, it seems like nothing I'm reading is light and fluffy, something I can read in bed until I'm too sleepy and put it down. Or, it doesn't even need to be fluffy, but it just doesn't include the books I'm reading right now. Mostly, I've been wanting to reread a lot of series, and I think when I do that I tell myself I need to pay more attention, savor the beauty of the words, and thus as I get sleepy, I start fighting with myself, and forcing myself back over passages I didn't quite absorb, and . . . well, it's not as unpleasant as it sounds, but that's not the mood I'm aiming for, you know?
So I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, which I really don't let myself fall asleep during, but I probably shouldn't care so much since I'll keep reading it over and over again anyway. (But everyone else always seems to remember more of it than I do...) I'm also reading Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, which is one of those business type of books written for people who don't read. Which is to say, it's very "fluffy" -- and what's with the two page chapters?! -- but the subject matter is something I think I need to pay attention to, so that's also out as a "read yourself to sleep" book. Next we have Spiral manga, which I'd love to be able to read for sustained amounts of time, but the Japanese just becomes a strain. Of course it's my language ability, but all the conspiracy talk and such make it a more difficult read than shoujo stuff like Fushigi Yuugi, which I didn't have much trouble with. Or Card Captor Sakura, even. Maybe I should start Alice 19th; Yuu Watase's work seems to agree well with me. And then I just started reading some Nietzsche, although I'm still reading introductory material and nothing yet he actually wrote. I so love the Modern Library books, but they do tend to distract me from the actual works with their supplementary text.
So, yeah, I'd say starting another book would be a bad idea. But I have this temptation to start rereading the Hyperion Cantos. Dan Simmons is rather long-winded and convoluted, but in all the right ways, it seems, to make me sleepy. My eyes glaze over and my brain shuts down because his concepts are so difficult, and yet thought-provoking and worthwhile. One of those series I'd love to force on people, except it doesn't seem to get a very good reception, and they are four very long books, and the first one has the most unsatisfying "ending" I've ever seen outside of anime.
I guess I should have brought some real fluff books, like Tamora Pierce or David Eddings. I have Belgarath the Sorcerer, but I want more Silk. Similarly, I want to reread the Alanna series for George Cooper. Don't mind me and my crushes on shady (but charming!) fictional characters. ^^;;
So I'm stuck. I guess I'll go read more Spiral. It seems the most promising, especially now as I get into the part that, by the author's own confession, starts to read like a "B action movie" (not that I know what that means).
no subject
Date: 2004-03-21 10:27 pm (UTC)Tried to read Hyperion once and almost tore my brains out in frustration. Usually once I finally got into someone's backstory, it would reach climax, conclude and someone else would step into the spotlight. Argh! Maddening.
I like poetry before bed, but that may just be because I'm strange. Also may explain weird, weird dreams I usually have.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-26 11:09 am (UTC)uhm. under no circumstances should you be paying attention to this =). the last thing people need is more people who read those kinds of books ;o)