2010: A Year of Excessive Reading

I'd like to think this past year has been productive. Somehow amidst knocking out 38 credits, getting a job, and still maintaining a social life, I managed to read 19 books this year. Am I bragging? Maybe. If you consider reading a plethoric amount of books a "cool" thing, well then, get ready for a lot of coolness, because I'm about to list them all:

1. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk by Legs McNeil. From the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols - this book covers nearly every influential Punk band from the late 60's through the 80's. It's awesome, go read it. Now.
2. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. It's cute, it's chick lit, it's got candy and romance.
3. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. Equally cute and chick lit, but substitute candy with magical cooking.
4. Nightlight: A Parady by the Harvard Lampoon. I despise Twilight, therefore I love this.
5. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I will never spell his name right without looking it up beforehand, but I really enjoyed this regardless.
6 - 11. Scott Pilgrim 1 - 6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley. I refer to them as comic books, but for the sake of argument I'll call them graphic novels (even though they're totally synonymous, Micah). These, ahem, graphic novels are fun reads and were a great precursor to the movie.
12. Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares. Guilty pleasure? Yes. Nostalgic and memory filled? Yes and yes.
13. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I love getting books as presents, especially when they're awesome like this.
14. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. He's weird and twisted and writes weird and twisted books, simply put.
15. Anthem by Ayn Rand. I love Ayn Rand; I love this book.
16. Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare. Normally I don't like to count assigned reading as extracurricular reading, but since I read the whole play, I figured I may as well. Plus, I like Shakespeare.
17. The Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip. I feel a little cheap putting this on my list since I haven't actually finished it yet. Yikes.
18. Hotel by Micah McFarland. Yes, this is totally going on the list. My boyfriend wrote a novel, and I read it and helped edit it. I can't wait to re-read it when it's finished.
19. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Okay, so I haven't finished this one yet, but I plan on finishing it before school starts on the 10th. I'm currently at page 203 of 936. I can totally finish it in 10 days. Right?

So there you have it. I already have a few books lined up for 2011, and I can't wait to get started. Thanks to everyone and anyone who bothered to read my bibliomania-filled posts this year, look forward to future attempts in the new year.

Anthem

I have a bit of a crush on Ayn Rand.

It all started when I first picked up The Fountainhead when I was about 15. While most kids my age trudged through Atlas Shrugged as a school assignment, I was fascinated by Ayn right from the beginning (probably inspired by watching an episode of Gilmore Girls). And immediately after reading The Fountainhead, I discovered the 1949 film classic by the same name, starring Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper (and with a screenplay written by Ayn Rand herself). I was in love.

As shameful as it is, I had never read any of her other works. (With Atlas Shrugged weighing in at 1,368 pages, who wouldn't be a little intimidated?) So, when it was suggested by a particular someone that I read Anthem (a mere 100ish pages or so), I did. And despite its small size, it's brilliant.


Anthem, a novella first published in 1937, is about a dystopian, highly collectivist future in which mankind has entered another dark age, as a result of socialist thinking. The word "I" has completed disappeared from their language. Instead of names, everyone is referred to by numbers. Equality 7-2521 is the hero of the story, and is "cursed" with curiosity and an unwillingness to submit himself completely to others. Equality 7-2521's struggle for individuality is pretty similar to most of Ayn Rand's works, but it doesn't make it any less brilliant.


For the record, Ayn Rand is a political nut job. But she's also a literary genius. So, go make my day and give her a try. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.

Diary

"We're all of us a million bits put together in the right way..."

I like Fight Club. I like Chuck Palahniuk I like weird stories about slightly deranged struggling artists who are somehow connected to a ludicrous conspiracy. (I also like free books my sisters buys for me.)

So, I figured I'd like Diary. And it turns out, I do. Maybe not as much as Fight Club, but that's what I get when I read Palahniuk's best work first. Anyway, Diary is about Misty Wilmot, a once talented artist who ends up working as a maid in a hotel while dealing with her comatose husband's cryptically heinous messages left inside sealed walls of homes of angry owners. Eventually she takes up painting again - but she soon figures out this sudden burst of creativity is less inspired than it is
coerced.

The plot is definitely weird. The writing is great, and I love all the art jargon and art history references used throughout the story. Overall, it's a fun read, in a twisted sort of way.

A Clockwork Orange

It's apparent by the length of time since my last post that school, homework, best friends moving away, cars breaking down, and sleep are interfering with my pleasure reading. I hate when that happens.


But, I digress. I just finished A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, a gift I got for graduation. I admit, I didn't really know too much about it before reading it, but I quickly learned it's a very allegorical, political, and linguistically fascinating book. First off, the Nadsat slang. It's Russian-influenced which I find coincidental considering I just read Crime and Punishment. At first it's like reading a bunch of made-up words (probably because most of them are), but through context the slang makes complete sense. I love the correlation between the "brainwashing" use of Nadsat language and the government-issued brainwashing of Alex, the anti-hero and narrator of the story.


The main theme of the book is free will - is it better to have a choice and do wrong, or be forced to do good? Because the moral lesson is so apparent, Burgess dismissed A Clockwork Orange as too didactic to be artistic, which I disagree with. Maybe it's because I never tire of a good, satirical, dystopian novel about the fundamental importance of moral choice. Or maybe it's because now I want to use words like "droog" and "slooshy" in everyday conversation.


As for the title itself, it's supposedly Cockney in origin but I think Burgess defined it best as, "...the application of a mechanistic morality to a living organism oozing with juice and sweetness."


Fascinating, no?


-Lizzy

Crime and Punishment and Jason Mraz

First and foremost, I'm not a blogger by any means. I've always admired those who could write a daily ditty about their thoughts on anything from world politics to what they ate for breakfast without any inhibition. I mean, I've always enjoy writing, but my works have been confined to either research essays or journal entries. I think this will be a happy medium.

When it was first suggested that I start a blog, my first thoughts were hey, I could use it to sort of keep track and criticize the books I read, along with other things. So that's what I'm going to do - starting now.

I just finished Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky the other day, and I have to say, whoever decided that I'm a fast reader is dead wrong, because I started this book months ago. (In my defense, I also read about five books in between starting Crime and Punishment and finishing it, so there.) Honestly though, I'm glad I didn't rush through it. The characters, themes, dialogue, and philosophical ideas are a lot to take in. I loved the way Dostoevsky really allowed the reader to get inside the mind of Rodion Raskolnikov Romanovitch and wrestle with his justification of his actions. Even though the story could be considered a thriller, this isn't a typical whodunnit. The who, what, where, and how are explained from the beginning - but it takes the rest of the novel to figure out the why. The way he compares his killing of the old pawnbroker to Napoleon's conquests and imposing his own will on "the natural order" is definitely thought provoking and unnerving.

I think one of my favorite things about this book is that even though it was published in 1866 Russia, the entire concept is so modern and relevant. I think this book definitely deserves a re-read whenever I get the chance.

Before I wrap this up, I think a little explanation behind the title of this blog is necessary. It's from one of my favorite Jason Mraz songs, On Love In Sadness. The whole lyric goes: "I listened in through hallways and thin doors/Where the rivers unwind and the rust and the rain endure."


I feel like there should be a signifcant and moving story behind why I chose that song for inspiration for titling my blog, but there's not. I just really love the lyrics and the meaning behind them. They're about not letting life make you jaded, always appreciating the love you have in your life. And before you call me a hippie, I definitely think this can apply to God's love as well. Actually, you can go ahead and call me a hippie anyway.


- Lizzy