read 50 books in 2006

ohhhh, i feel in such big love with this book. i thought ‘invisible cities’ was my favorite calvino, but this book was so magical and perfect that it took its place. a gorgeous, fantastic book. i would recommend it to anyone.

A+.

(i’m not even halfway! i can’t believe i might fail at this goal this year. i enter graduate school and all of a sudden i read all the time, but rarely full books. wah wah.)

I was completely not supposed to be reading this book last night, since I now have an important paper still unfinished. It was mentioned in an article I was reading for research on Didion and it intrigued me, so I sat down and read the whole thing. Which was more or less worth it. I don’t ever read sci fi, so the four or five times I’ve done it, I’ve been shocked by how compelling the plots often are. I just kept reading and reading. I also have a twisted fondness for really overt allegory, so this book was also enjoyable in that way. In fact, it was an excellent book all-around and I’m just bitter because I don’t want to write the paper I’m writing.

A-.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Didion, already being a huge fan of her essay work. The difference in form threw me off at first, particularly because it’s such a self-conscious work. It’s lovely, though, in an odd little way—very fragmented and…filmic, I guess. It really seemed like a series of images that came in and out of focus over the course of the pages.

B+.

I don’t really like his literary criticism, but he’s certainly much better at it than he is at writing novels.

C-.

I didn’t expect that I would like this book, but I really did. Unfortunately, I liked it so much that I decided to go see the film, which was a terrible mistake. Fantastic book, though.

A-.

A simple book with surprising depths.

B.

This is a sprawling, foggy journey on a ghost ship. Lovely and quite sad.

B+.

Somehow I convinced myself that I had already read this book, based on the fact that I’ve read so much ABOUT it and whatnot. But then we read it for class, and I realized that I had been mistaken and seriously missing out. This is a beautiful, elliptical, incredibly written novel.

A+!

well, between packing and moving and starting graduate school, I haven’t had time to post much on here. but since I’m in graduate school, I certainly have been reading. so i very well might be able to finish this goal this year, even though I’ve forgotten a bunch of books. here’s hoping!

Well, I thought my ex-boyfriend hated me, but then he gave me this a week ago for my birthday and I changed my mind. Now after making it through the whole 563 pages of gloom, I’ve decided he does hate me after all.

Despite that, it’s an excellent, well-written book. Just be prepared to be pulled down into the slough of despair for a while.

A.