June 26, 2006
My Book News
Now rereading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Like the last few books I’ve read, I don’t remember being massively affected by it, so the reread has been more of a catch-up than exploration. Though it did spurn on my fascination with Soviet history in first year university, so it is important to me. I like it. I reread A Wrinkle in Time before that- children’s book and sci-fi fantasy, there for all of you who are so annoyed that I won’t read Harry Potter. And no surprise- it didn’t thrill me. I don’t even remember loving it in my youth, but I was profoundly moved by A Swiftly Tilting Planet– the third book in the series- and I still absolutely adore that one, so I wanted to revisit its origins. And it was all right, but I kept wanting to skip by the floaty bits and learn more about the people, and see them interact on their own planet. I really have to say that I am awfully fond of books that take place on earth.
In further bookish news, I pruned my shelves today and got rid of books that didn’t need to be there. I am clearing space for new growth of course (and Stuart promised we can get a second bookshelf next year!). I got rid of Ulysses, which I said I kept as a joke, to be ironic, but really in the back of my mind I wanted to read, but I never will. I know I won’t. I am going to stand up now for a live lived without ever having read Ulysses which might indeed be less of a life, how I guess now I’ll never know the difference.
