Gotta admit, I'm a little stuck on Ulysses. Going to take a break to read Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
Gotta admit, I'm a little stuck on Ulysses. Going to take a break to read Turgenev's Fathers and Sons.
Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.
A permanent break, indeed.Quoting Duncan (view post)
I'll probably pick it back up. I'm usually pretty good about finishing books once I start.
Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.
I find I'm terrible at picking books back up after a hiatus. I just completely lose my focus on it, and don't get it back unless I was seriously engrossed in the first place. And if I was, I probably would have already finished it the first time through.
I can't imagine taking a break for however long, would be a good idea for something as dense as Ulysses, but you'd know best.
I'm the same. Leaving a book unfinished is never a good idea because picking it up later becomes almost impossible for me.
I never feel obligated to finish books - or movies, or games. If I'm not digging something, I'd rather put it down on move onto something that I might. There just isn't enough time in life to force myself to sit through something that isn't working, especially when there are so many awesome things out there to enjoy.
I'm of this opinion as well. Never was, nor ever will be a completionist.
It's not really about finishing for completion's sake for me. It's more about: 1) the idea that a work should be judged as a whole, not as a fragment, and that it is not unusual for great art to reveal itself as more than the sum of its parts; and 2) the idea that a lot of my favourite books require pretty serious engagement and effort on the reader's part, and that if I'm not constantly entertained but instead working, then that's not necessarily a bad thing and may be more rewarding in the end.
Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.
And also, I pretty often have more than one book on the go, so to take a break from a 700 page novel to read a quick 240 pager isn't so big a deal.
Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.
I think I'll probably read China Mieville's "Kraken" next, because I am dying to read more of his work if it's good.
Some of the premises are incredible.
"The City & The City" sounds divine.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
How far are you into Ulysses? I thought its constant shifts in style made it more of a page-turner than some other long, very dense books. Didn't care much for Fathers and Sons, though.
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
lists and reviews
About 300 pages. Not liking Fathers and Sons much either, to be honest. Probably finish it tomorrow.
Wishful thinking, perhaps; but that is just another possible definition of the featherless biped.
Not at all; since you don't want to read anything WWII I'll shut up here.
And read Kraken next, too btw. When I finish Banks' Transition.
I hated The Art of Racing in the Rain with the fire of 10,000 suns.
Started The Corrections last night, and at the rate I'm going I'll be reading it for the rest of the year.
Now reading: The Master Switch by Tim Wu
David Sedaris' new book is fiction? Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk looks to be examining human scenarios through little furry critters. I'm interested.
...and the milk's in me.
When I went to his live show, he read two stories from the book, and both were fantastic. I can't wait.
A student--not mine, praise the higher being--recently made waves when he demanded to be taken out of an instructor's class because the instructor was teaching subversive material.
The "subversive material"? David Sedaris
Curious.
Subversive to whom?
...and the milk's in me.
To conservatives?
Apparently, the student objected to Sedaris's sexual orientation. He also complained about a reading on alternative families.
Students who complain about such material are not exactly rare, but this guy was very vocal. My boss, who is awesome, sent him this email about the importance of being open-minded in college.
A friend of mine who teaches Western Civ often runs into this problem when she teaches Darwin.
I went to a private religious university, so complaints weren't unheard of, but I would imagine that most people who go to college aren't dead set against being exposed to any ideas other than their own.
I do remember a girl complaining about Moll Flanders in one of my classes.
...and the milk's in me.
This is a public college, and whenever this sort of issue arises, I can't help but wonder why these students didn't go to a private college if this is obviously such a sticking point in their education. The last I heard was this student would be removed from the class, and he will have to wait a semester to take it again, and hopefully, the next instructor will not have David Sedaris on the syllabus.
My favorite story: A really irate parent called my former boss about what she felt was an inappropriate movie on her son's Introduction to Film Studies syllabus. The movie? Dr. Strangelove. This person just assumed that it was some sort of porno based on the title. Sigh.
Before I saw that film, I thought it was about some sort of James Bond villain.
...and the milk's in me.
I'd request to leave that class too, though I doubt for the same reason.
The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.
So David Foster Wallace's unfinished novel gets released in April.
Will wait to see how the feedback is before picking it up, though.
Last movies seen
Frank: Good
Mistaken for Strangers: Good
Guardians of the Galaxy: Good
Last TV seasons watched
Treme (S04): Good
The Legend of Korra (S03): Good
Currently reading
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The comments over there make me want to stab something.
The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.
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