January 2010
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Books Read in January
I’ve actually read eight books this month, so I thought I’d list them here with links to my reviews.
A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson
Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen Year Old Self by Various Writers
Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt...
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Book Review: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Book #8
“The events I’ve been through have been tremendously complicated. All kinds of characters have come on the scene and strange things have happened, one after another. To the point where if I try to think about them in order, I lose track.” The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
I think this is the hardest book I’ve reviewed since I’ve started reviewing...
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“And so my sympathy for him had nothing personal about it. I could feel only a...”
– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
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“Francis was lonely, and bored, bored. Everything was like it had always been,...”
– Jack Kerouac in The Town and The City (via predatorywaspobserver)
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Thoughts on Reading, and Why I Have Never Read J....
How do you say that you’ve never read an acclaimed author? You hide away in shame when someone mentions them. You nod along, and make another mental note to read the goddamn book. And, when you’re found out, you attempt to explain. In this, as in so many things, it’s the story of a boy. But let’s start at the beginning.
I’ve always been a reader. This is something...
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What do you guys do when you want to get your mind...
No one say reading or music. That’s all I’ve been doing. Also don’t say go for a run bc the weather’s horrible. Otherwise, please give me suggestions.
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“That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful,...”
– J. D. Salinger. I’d say RIP but that makes the quote redundant. Then again, I can’t not.
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“For a time, I was able to breathe deeply the air of realism or whatever it was...”
– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Replace ‘uncle’ with whatever individual you please, and this becomes a very universal emotion.
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Poetry Live for Haiti →
I’m going to this event on Saturday. It’s in London, at the Westminster Central Hall. Tickets are only £10, and all proceeds are going to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Haiti earthquake appeal. If any of you are in London, and are at all interested in poetry, I suggest you get tickets.
Poets reading include: Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion, Brian Pattern, Gillian Clarke and...
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“As if holding a broken object, he picked up a book lying next to the computer...”
– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
“One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you...”
– Margaret Mead (via predatorywaspobserver)
So true.
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“What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the...”
– Franz Kafka (via virginiawoolf, littlebat, booklover)
Despite the number of books I love, really love, the number of books that have hit me like this I can count on two hands. Not two full hands, but two hands nonetheless.
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“Grammar is like the air: someone higher up might try to set rules for its use,...”
– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
This is from the beginning of the book, and has nothing at all to do with the plot or characters, but I liked it.
jane-eyre asked: I don't have a question but I want to say I envy your balcony. Perfect reading spot!
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I've just finished Book 1 of 'The Wind-up Bird...
I feel like throwing up. Sorry for being vulgar, but it’s true. I’ll save the details for my review once I finish the book, but I’m sick to my stomach. Murakami has such astounding skill. I’m not even done and already I’m wondering how whatever book I read next is going to compare. I may need to take a break from reading fiction for a week or so after this. Anyway,...
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“Some kind of memory was trying to force its way out. I could feel it in there,...”
– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
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I'm rethinking a few things and I'm scared.
I won’t post them on here, that’s not why I have a tumblr. But it’s scary when there’s a decision that could alter your entire life and you don’t know how to make it, or if you should. I can’t speak to my parents about it, and my friends can’t really help. I’m not broken, or anything. I’m just very aware that right now, this decision, is at a...
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Nowhere Boy is amazing.
It’s a biopic, story of John Lennon’s early years, pre-Beatles. It chronicles the relationships with his aunt and mother. It’s really well done. Sam Taylor Wood did a really great job. I’ve always admired her photography, but had never seen a film directed by her before. Also, just a litte PS. I wanted to jump Aaron Johnson (the actor who plays Lennon).
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whybotherwith-deactivated201011 asked: You should read "I am not myself these days" by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
it's my favvvorite book and got me back into reading. not that you need recommendations or anything
it's my favvvorite book and got me back into reading. not that you need recommendations or anything
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Book Review: Why I Write
Book #7
“No book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude,” George Orwell, Why I Write
The above photograph is at a particularly delicious meal. Anyway. If you buy this edition, bear this in mind: it is largely not about writing. Penguin used that title to lure suckers like me who want to know...
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“Nothing ever stands still. We must add to our heritage or lose it, we must grow...”
– George Orwell, in his essay The Lion and the Unicorn.
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“The trouble with influential books is that if you have absorbed the influence...”
– Nick Hornby, Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt
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How you know you travel too much:
almost all the staff at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 know you, or you recognize them.
AKA I have landed in London.
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“One hand in the air for the big city
street lights, big dreams, all...”
– Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
I love this bridge. Let’s just apply it to London seeing as I’m going to be there in less than ten hours.
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“Independence is happiness.”
– Susan B. Anthony (via libraryland)
Hell, yes.
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