Books completed:
METRO 2033 - A long and difficult read, but worth it in the end. Maybe I should have looked for a character list online, though the names of people were nowhere near as confusing or Russian sounding as the names of places. Kievskaya, Paveletskaya, Rizhskaya, Tverskaya - they all sort of blend together by the end. Still very good, very dark. The earth of this book is a pretty grandly fucked place, maybe in the same category as the earth of The Road, if you’ve read that.
SHOPGIRL - A nice quick read, I definitely identified with it a lot more at 22 than now. Nice to go back to something I found myself so drawn to at one point and see how much I have changed in relation to the book. Still good, just not nearly as applicable to my life now.
THE HUNGER GAMES - Technically a book for young adults, it is the sort of book that can be enjoyed by older more mature readers for its merits, as opposed to your twilights and your captain underpants and the like, the sort that can only be read by the target age group without cringing. A very well plotted, well paced book; I read it in one day, two at the most. I do wish this story would have been handled by an author who wasn’t aiming for such a young demographic, because the book does spend a lot more time on the characters immediate feeling rather than fleshing out the admittedly interesting world the books take place in. I could have used a lot more back story about why things are the way they are - even just a few more details would have really gone a long way. Worth reading, will make an excellent movie some day.
CATCHING FIRE - Hunger games two, see above. Also good.
MOCKINGJAY - Hunger games three, maybe not as good as the first book, but arguably better than the second, a fitting conclusion to the story.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN - I have finished two books by Cormac McCarthy, and I liked them both immensely, this and The Road. I started to read Blood Meridian, but couldn't finish it, maybe I only like his books that aren’t set in the wild west, or thereabouts. I have all the pretty horses, maybe that isn’t as grating as blood meridian - he just has such a distinctive style, I hope there is something else of his that I can get into. This book feels important to me, without seeming pretentious. I can see why the Coen brothers were able to make such a great film out of this - they had quite a bit to work with.
Books started, but not completed:
CONSIDER THE LOBSTER - I guess this could be in the still reading category, as I might finish it sometime. I generally prefer DFW’s lighter pieces, like the cruise ship story from his earlier books of essays. I read about his trip to the adult film awards, which is a nice blend of high and low art - he plays the role of educated outsider so well. A shame he died so young, I guess I’ll just have to read this and A Supposedly Fun Thing over and over forever.
OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA - I started to read this and stopped fairly shortly into it. We don’t buy food with sugar or corn syrup in it, and we don’t buy meat with our groceries. We are at-home vegetarians, if you will. We will gladly eat meat or sugar at restaurants or at other people’s houses, but at home we pay attention to a lot, but not all, of what we put into our bodies. The first chapter was about corn syrup being in everything, and how generally bad it was, and t was nothing new to me. Briefly browsing over the rest of the book, I realized that I don’t really want to be scared of all the rest of the food I eat. Willful ignorance at its finest. At some point we may have enough money to buy all local organically grown products, but that point is not now. So I have no desire to be terrified of the potatoes and eggs that I buy at Aldi; I have enough to worry about as it is, and we are selective enough with our dietary habits as it is. Sorry omnivore’s dilemma, maybe another time down the road.
Books currently being read:
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN - Still. I’m very close to the end. I will need a new bus book soon. Something slow and meandering like this is.
SUPER FREAKONOMICS - Still. I have been on a fiction bender, specifically very readable and propulsive fiction. I’m sure I’ll come back to these sorts soon enough.
THE NAME OF THE WIND - If you ever liked a fantasy book, read this. It is by Rothfuss, and it is awesome. SO AWESOME. The second book in the series came out on march first, so I am enjoying catching up on this to be fresh for the sequel, which will assuredly be the next book after this one that I finish. Ughhh, I want to finish typing this right now so I can go read it a little before bed.
Comments, suggestions, questions welcome.
