There's no better way to waste an afternoon than reading crappy fiction and drinking lots of tea.
(On policy decision, I have decided not to document reading any books published by the great Mills and Boons, but make no mistake: they exist.)
murakami
The thing about Murakami, apart from the melancholy and the emotion, not counting how immediately I take in many of his pop culture references for granted into my own life, given the philosophical undertones, the thing about Murakami is the normalisation of the strange. He does it with such ease, such remarkable flow, such passion and such nonchalance, that sometimes I just have to sit back and read it over and over again.
On some days, in some moments, some things just make sense. Like the gorilla in Dance, Dance, Dance. (Or was it Wild Sheep Chase? The books blur into each other in my head.) The way it walks into the room and put him to sleep. Or what he says about the scenery in his memory in Norwegian Wood. They just come back to you. What's even better, are the things that stay. Things that are left unfinished in your head, things that he says offhandedly, things that stew.
For me, Murakami is someone who comforts me, someone I read when I'm lonely. Someone who makes me enjoy my moments of darkness; inspires it, even. And the reason I want to go to Japan sometime in life, the only reason I want to visit Tokyo is so I can go to his cafe (in my head, it's a quaint little place - like the cafe in which Elvis plays in the Hitchhiker's Guide), where there are musicians in a corner, doing their own thing. A place with pretty lights and a prettier view, a place made solely out of corner tables.
The thing about Murakami, the real thing about him, is that he makes emptiness okay, and loneliness a way of life. And that's why I love reading him.
On some days, in some moments, some things just make sense. Like the gorilla in Dance, Dance, Dance. (Or was it Wild Sheep Chase? The books blur into each other in my head.) The way it walks into the room and put him to sleep. Or what he says about the scenery in his memory in Norwegian Wood. They just come back to you. What's even better, are the things that stay. Things that are left unfinished in your head, things that he says offhandedly, things that stew.
For me, Murakami is someone who comforts me, someone I read when I'm lonely. Someone who makes me enjoy my moments of darkness; inspires it, even. And the reason I want to go to Japan sometime in life, the only reason I want to visit Tokyo is so I can go to his cafe (in my head, it's a quaint little place - like the cafe in which Elvis plays in the Hitchhiker's Guide), where there are musicians in a corner, doing their own thing. A place with pretty lights and a prettier view, a place made solely out of corner tables.
The thing about Murakami, the real thing about him, is that he makes emptiness okay, and loneliness a way of life. And that's why I love reading him.
03.07.2011
100 Bullets.
First Shot, Last Call.Whoa. Take a broken character, offer her reprieve and an eye for an eye as it may seem. But dig a little deeper, just an inch below the surface, and you're not sure anymore. Vodka outside Russia tastes the same anyway, and nobody knows who's really pulling the strings. It's loud, it's pacy, it's subtle, it's oh-so-noir, it's sexy, it's compelling and it know what it's doing. What's more, the storytelling is incredible. Minimal dialogue, almost no narrative and fucking brilliant art. I can't wait to read the next one.
'Hey I know death's a part of life.'
'You don't know death. You ignore it, same as I do.'
**
Kafka on the Shore
Which I had saved for a rainy day. I guess today's as rainy as any other. :)
'Hey I know death's a part of life.'
'You don't know death. You ignore it, same as I do.'
**
Kafka on the Shore
Which I had saved for a rainy day. I guess today's as rainy as any other. :)
01.07.2011
More River of Smoke:
I absolutely love the gay, gossipy, italicky Robin Chinnery. Ghosh seems to have had quite a bit of fun writing him and I'm having fun reading.
'I have to bring you to Fanqui-town's landing Ghat, which is called, and this is true, I swear- Jackass Point (the fabled Man-Town must, in other words be entered through Jack's Unspeakable).'
I absolutely love the gay, gossipy, italicky Robin Chinnery. Ghosh seems to have had quite a bit of fun writing him and I'm having fun reading.
'I have to bring you to Fanqui-town's landing Ghat, which is called, and this is true, I swear- Jackass Point (the fabled Man-Town must, in other words be entered through Jack's Unspeakable).'
25.06.2011
Preliminary observation on River of Smoke: The first one was okay, with its English and Bhojpuri mix-ups, but this French-Bhojpuri thing is really, really trying. It tests the very limits of my already much-limited french vocabulary. But storytelling-wise, already love it.
24.06.2011
Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
Yes! I know Pratchett doesn't count as much reading as fondly remembering. So what! Pfft. Bought the new Ghosh book. But I do have to re-read Sea of Poppies first. (Sigh. Having fun has never been so taxing.) Anyway, Small Gods - After Thief of Time, a bit dull, but oh-so-awesome with the Philosopher Theatrics in Ephebe. And the desert. That too.
Yes! I know Pratchett doesn't count as much reading as fondly remembering. So what! Pfft. Bought the new Ghosh book. But I do have to re-read Sea of Poppies first. (Sigh. Having fun has never been so taxing.) Anyway, Small Gods - After Thief of Time, a bit dull, but oh-so-awesome with the Philosopher Theatrics in Ephebe. And the desert. That too.
June
Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
11.06.2011. Yes Ma, my reading is indeed as neglected as this page. Although, I did manage to filler-re-read Watchmen over the past week. So there's this bit where Jon's telling his story - and he starts with the old photograph and builds on it. What an absolutely stunning piece of story-telling! I read that over and over again, just to go over how that story gets built, how the details get folded, one on top of the other, almost like a song, almost like poetry. I find myself thinking, there's a reason why this book is that awesome. Sigh.
11.06.2011. Yes Ma, my reading is indeed as neglected as this page. Although, I did manage to filler-re-read Watchmen over the past week. So there's this bit where Jon's telling his story - and he starts with the old photograph and builds on it. What an absolutely stunning piece of story-telling! I read that over and over again, just to go over how that story gets built, how the details get folded, one on top of the other, almost like a song, almost like poetry. I find myself thinking, there's a reason why this book is that awesome. Sigh.
May
Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett
Dissolution, CJ Sansom (Book 1, Shardlake series)
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (The author's preferred text etc.)
Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic, graphic novels, Terry Pratchett
01. 05. 2011. This page has (had) been temporarily suspended to remind the owner of this blog of deadlines looming like impending doom. Everything that may distract her will reappear in a span of three days when her term papers have been successfully written and submitted.
Or, in the words of Douglas Adams, 'We apologise for the inconvenience.'
(The owner of this blog is also quite the drama queen and loves referring to herself in third person.)
10.05.2011. Okay, so not so much reading done yet, for the month. Been doing all sorts of exciting things that don't involve sitting in one place. (Or if they do, the sitting has involved catching up on lost sleep.) The art on the graphic novels was very disappointing. The editing and graphic novel-ising was pretty sad too. I kept expecting to read the jokes I liked, and they just weren't there (like "Big Bang" for example.) Also, WHAT did he do to DEATH? Yuck. *Wipes image out of brain.*
Plan to start on Sansom tonight. Let's see how that goes. :D
23. 05.2011. Need. To. Find. Time. For. Self.
28.05.2011. Okay, I have to read at least one book fully by the end of this month. What the fuck!
Dissolution, CJ Sansom (Book 1, Shardlake series)
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (The author's preferred text etc.)
Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic, graphic novels, Terry Pratchett
01. 05. 2011. This page has (had) been temporarily suspended to remind the owner of this blog of deadlines looming like impending doom. Everything that may distract her will reappear in a span of three days when her term papers have been successfully written and submitted.
Or, in the words of Douglas Adams, 'We apologise for the inconvenience.'
(The owner of this blog is also quite the drama queen and loves referring to herself in third person.)
10.05.2011. Okay, so not so much reading done yet, for the month. Been doing all sorts of exciting things that don't involve sitting in one place. (Or if they do, the sitting has involved catching up on lost sleep.) The art on the graphic novels was very disappointing. The editing and graphic novel-ising was pretty sad too. I kept expecting to read the jokes I liked, and they just weren't there (like "Big Bang" for example.) Also, WHAT did he do to DEATH? Yuck. *Wipes image out of brain.*
Plan to start on Sansom tonight. Let's see how that goes. :D
23. 05.2011. Need. To. Find. Time. For. Self.
28.05.2011. Okay, I have to read at least one book fully by the end of this month. What the fuck!
April
Durable Disorder, Sanjib Baruah
Democracy and Development in India, Atul Kohli. (Okay, to be fair, I only read one section of the book. But I did! So there.)
Democracy in India, Niraja Gopal Jayal (ed.)
In the Belly of the River, Amita Baviskar
The Girl who Couldn't Come, Joey Comeau (Say it with me, weird and wonderful. :) )
Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault
Before They Are Hanged, Joe Abercrombie (Book 2, First Law Trilogy)
The Dream Hunters, Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie (Book 3, First Law Trilogy)
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Gender and Caste, Anupama Rao (ed.)
Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
10. 04. 2011 - In retrospect, I wonder how I made that jump from obsessive Murakami to obsessive Pratchett to general fantasy. Hmmm.
13. 04. 2011 - Loved the Dream Hunters! It felt like reading an all new Sandman (which it was), with its intrigue and darkness and most beautiful storytelling. What's more, the art was absolutely stunning! I can't wait to get my hands on the original prose version, now.
17. 04. 2011 - Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say that he's a total wacko. He takes every single fantasy trope you can think of and turns it on its head. Who's the good guy, who's the bad guy? Who's the evil scheming bastard, who's the guy who wants to save the world? There aren't any prophesies, there aren't any rules, it's just a regular war with no good guys. You have to be realistic, after all. The first book was like the first season of the Wire - You don't make sense of the first half till you read the second half (Community reference alert). The second book was one long, maddening (and, might I add, brilliant and funny and absolutely riveting) tale at the climax of which you really, really understand the depths to which Abercrombie might take the turning-fantasy-on-its-head idea to. The third book, well, the third book builds on the *cough* climax of the second book to a whole new twist and finds a bastard in every character there is (some, literally too). On the whole, fun!
20. 04. 2011 - Just finished Ender's Game. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It works like a video game, in so many ways. I think it's meant to, actually. With the levels, and the moving up, and the challenges at each level. It's written like a video game, about a game. There is a pattern to the story. He keeps going through the same thing. Minding-my-own-business ---> Put in confrontational, near-hostile situation --> Turn into some sort of mangy killer --> Wait, did he really die? --> Innocent saint. This happens in every episode and the book as a whole. I have much more to think about. And much that I'm very uncomfortable with. But good fiction - Like.
30. 04. 2011 - Loved Nocturnes. More later. This has been a crazy hectic and lazy month. Like a Sine curve. Don't ask how. So much writing, so much reading, so much fiction, so much Doctor Who, so much bumming at home, so many visits to Bahrisons and Full Circle, so few classes, so much TeeVee! Although you might think 12 books in a month is a bit much, I did have to write my research proposal and I'm currently writing one term paper and I have to write another one next week, so all things considered, it might be a bit less (also I've been reading some books for several months - Foucault for the past seven months, Kohli for two, Baruah for one and a half or so). On the whole, whattay April ya!
Democracy and Development in India, Atul Kohli. (Okay, to be fair, I only read one section of the book. But I did! So there.)
Democracy in India, Niraja Gopal Jayal (ed.)
In the Belly of the River, Amita Baviskar
The Girl who Couldn't Come, Joey Comeau (Say it with me, weird and wonderful. :) )
Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault
Before They Are Hanged, Joe Abercrombie (Book 2, First Law Trilogy)
The Dream Hunters, Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie (Book 3, First Law Trilogy)
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Gender and Caste, Anupama Rao (ed.)
Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
10. 04. 2011 - In retrospect, I wonder how I made that jump from obsessive Murakami to obsessive Pratchett to general fantasy. Hmmm.
13. 04. 2011 - Loved the Dream Hunters! It felt like reading an all new Sandman (which it was), with its intrigue and darkness and most beautiful storytelling. What's more, the art was absolutely stunning! I can't wait to get my hands on the original prose version, now.
17. 04. 2011 - Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say that he's a total wacko. He takes every single fantasy trope you can think of and turns it on its head. Who's the good guy, who's the bad guy? Who's the evil scheming bastard, who's the guy who wants to save the world? There aren't any prophesies, there aren't any rules, it's just a regular war with no good guys. You have to be realistic, after all. The first book was like the first season of the Wire - You don't make sense of the first half till you read the second half (Community reference alert). The second book was one long, maddening (and, might I add, brilliant and funny and absolutely riveting) tale at the climax of which you really, really understand the depths to which Abercrombie might take the turning-fantasy-on-its-head idea to. The third book, well, the third book builds on the *cough* climax of the second book to a whole new twist and finds a bastard in every character there is (some, literally too). On the whole, fun!
20. 04. 2011 - Just finished Ender's Game. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It works like a video game, in so many ways. I think it's meant to, actually. With the levels, and the moving up, and the challenges at each level. It's written like a video game, about a game. There is a pattern to the story. He keeps going through the same thing. Minding-my-own-business ---> Put in confrontational, near-hostile situation --> Turn into some sort of mangy killer --> Wait, did he really die? --> Innocent saint. This happens in every episode and the book as a whole. I have much more to think about. And much that I'm very uncomfortable with. But good fiction - Like.
30. 04. 2011 - Loved Nocturnes. More later. This has been a crazy hectic and lazy month. Like a Sine curve. Don't ask how. So much writing, so much reading, so much fiction, so much Doctor Who, so much bumming at home, so many visits to Bahrisons and Full Circle, so few classes, so much TeeVee! Although you might think 12 books in a month is a bit much, I did have to write my research proposal and I'm currently writing one term paper and I have to write another one next week, so all things considered, it might be a bit less (also I've been reading some books for several months - Foucault for the past seven months, Kohli for two, Baruah for one and a half or so). On the whole, whattay April ya!
March
Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Romance of the State and the Fate of Dissent in the Tropics, Ashis Nandy
Subalterns and Sovereigns, Nandini Sundar
Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
March has been a thoroughly long, complicated, busy yet slow month. I'm pretty sure I don't like months like these. And clearly, I've been reading way more fiction than I've read for my proposal, so don't let me complain much about work not getting done, okay?
Also, one new and one old Murakami! He's getting slightly predictable and less quirky by the book, I feel. Wind-up just wasn't all that. And I definitely prefer Birnbaum to Rubin. With Graveyard Book, I think Gaiman's just getting old, and I-the-reader have to just accept this as a fact of life and not expect an American Gods to happen everytime I read one of his books. Bryson was enjoyable and quite a laugh, as usual. (Oh, also, what is with these new Pratchett covers? They're so boring and monotonous! What is that elephant doing on that cover. Psh.)
I loved Sundar's book, and seeing as it's full of post-it flags, have also made much use of it. And Nandy is tedious as usual. I felt like I was missing the point through most of the book, but I honestly wasn't even trying, except for towards the end.
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Romance of the State and the Fate of Dissent in the Tropics, Ashis Nandy
Subalterns and Sovereigns, Nandini Sundar
Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
March has been a thoroughly long, complicated, busy yet slow month. I'm pretty sure I don't like months like these. And clearly, I've been reading way more fiction than I've read for my proposal, so don't let me complain much about work not getting done, okay?
Also, one new and one old Murakami! He's getting slightly predictable and less quirky by the book, I feel. Wind-up just wasn't all that. And I definitely prefer Birnbaum to Rubin. With Graveyard Book, I think Gaiman's just getting old, and I-the-reader have to just accept this as a fact of life and not expect an American Gods to happen everytime I read one of his books. Bryson was enjoyable and quite a laugh, as usual. (Oh, also, what is with these new Pratchett covers? They're so boring and monotonous! What is that elephant doing on that cover. Psh.)
I loved Sundar's book, and seeing as it's full of post-it flags, have also made much use of it. And Nandy is tedious as usual. I felt like I was missing the point through most of the book, but I honestly wasn't even trying, except for towards the end.
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