January 2011
43 posts
My dearest Emily Dickenson:
I love your poetry. I really do. However, I am still glad that we will soon be done with your work in American Lit. I’m sorry, but I can only write phrases like “the speaker is dead” and “_______ symbolizes death” so many times before I start feeling depressed as well.
Clearly, I Ask the Important Questions:
Why does the Hangover’s sequel need to be titled The Hangover: Part II? I feel this just confirms my doubts that it is going to recycle the premise of the first one and sap it of the originality that made the first one so fun (though I’m sure the average moviegoer will still eat it up). Hell, why does every sequel nowadays need to be (title of first film) 2? Are American audiences...
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time
I thought that by the time that this one rolled around I would have figured it out. No dice.
As I said earlier in this 30 Day challenge or whatever you call it, Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle has always been a favorite of mine. I’m not sure if I can say whether or not it is the favorite, though. It is incredibly well-written, and infinitely re-readable (for me, at least), but that...
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
This is only slightly different from “Most Underrated,” isn’t it? Anyways, a lot of people from my freshman class (and a couple other classes) had to read Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin’s Three Cups of Tea. The general response was “baaaawwww, I hate this book.” I really don’t see why this was the case. I’m not saying it was great by any...
Day 28 - Favorite title
Most of the books I have read have very unambitious titles. I do like the title Breakfast of Champions, but that is mainly because it sounds silly. One of my favorite titles for a chapter in a book, though, is “The Footsteps Die Out For Ever” from A Tale of Two Cities. For whatever reason, those six words just seem to contain a lot of power — so much so, that I actually noticed...
Mike Sides: Food Critic
Sides: You are a paragon of decadence.
Me: Blending flavors is hardly decadent.
Sides: Two kinds of goldfish? If that isn't decadent, I don't know what is.
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
This is a tough one. I don’t really read many books with mind-bending plot twists or anything like that, and when I do I usually see it well before it happens. For example, when I finished A Tale of Two Cities last night, I saw the twist coming from a mile away. “Twists” are something I’m more used to seeing in films or comics — my favorite example of the latter would...
It was the best of times, it was the blurst of...
It took a bit longer than I thought it would, what with school starting and all of that, but I’ve finished A Tale of Two Cities. I was very, very hesitant about reading it at first. I read Great Expectations a while ago, which embodied many of the negative qualities that readers ascribe to Dickens — in particular, it was painfully wordy. However, Kari insisted that I read A Tale of Two...
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about...
I read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies when I was rather young (I forget exactly how young, though). Despite it being fictitious, I’m pretty sure that book is a major cause of my cynical outlook on life and my general lack of faith in the human race’s ability to do what is right.
I’m getting better, though!
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the...
I keep bringing this book up, but Constantine Levin — one of the main characters in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina — was eerily similar to me in his thoughts and behavior. Obviously there were a few differences, but it was probably the closest I’ve ever related to a fictional character.
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would’ve...
I wish bigoted Christians (not that I’m implying all Christians are bigots, of course) would read their whole Bible, rather than just the passages that they use to further their message of hate.
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time...
Ulysses by James Joyce. One day…
Day 22 - Favorite book that you own
The “that you own” barely narrows the selection down. I’m not a materialistic man in most situations, but I am when it comes to books. If I read a good book that I borrowed from a friend, have to read it for a class, or am simply interested in reading it at some point in my life, then I need to own it. It’s a bad habit, as I don’t have a job to support this addiction....
“A writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”
– Burton Rascoe (via deadwriters)
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Now this is a tough one. I would probably have to say Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. I read both books as soon as I was able to read something on that level, and have read them both multiple times since then. No matter how many times I read them, I cannot tire of the wonderful and bizarre world created. It...
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
I can’t say I read any genre romance. My favorite romances in books, though, were all of those in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Just as every character seems 100% real, so do all of the relationships between those characters. So much so that I could nearly feel every emotion regarding those relationships as if they were my own (particularly when it came to Levin).
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige is based off of a novel of the same name by author Christopher Priest. The two have quite a few differences, but that’s fine. I really don’t think that movies need to be completely true to the source material. After all, why would I want to watch a movie that is exactly the same as the book that I already read? Both the book and the movie are...
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Over this summer I started reading Robinson Crusoe. I never finished. There are few times that I’ve actually put a book down after finishing it. Robinson Crusoe was just incredibly dull, especially for one of the classic adventure novels. It just didn’t keep me interested.
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
How about a favorite quote from a favorite book?
I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.
- Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
Day 16 - Favorite female character
I felt more sympathy for Éponine Thénardier of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables than I did for any other fictional character. Everything about her is just so… well, sad. Like many of us have done for the apple of our eye, she tries so hard to get Marius to notice her, and is passed up for someone whose only noticable advantage is being more attractive. Cosette can sod off, she’s a...
Day 15 - Favorite male character
No matter how many awful retellings of his stories are made, nor how cliche the archetype he defined becomes, Sherlock Holmes will always be my favorite fictional cocaine addict.
Day 13 & 14 - Your favorite writer and your...
I knew I was going to accidentally forget to do this one day. Luckily, days 13 and 14 go together. Edgar Allan Poe has always been a favorite of mine, but he only finished one novel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. I haven’t read it, and it’s not on my list of things to read. While reviews of the work are mixed, I’m particularly uninspired by Poe’s...
“…your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
– Anthony Bourdain speaking the truth.
Resolutions
I’m normally not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. Going from one year to another isn’t enough to change me from one person to another, right? Even so, I made a few for 2011 just for the hell of it.
Write more fiction. I already wrote something about this a few days ago, but the point still stands. Right after I talked about spending my one free day (next Monda) where I had no...
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don’t anymore
When I was a young teenager I read so much mediocre science fiction and fantasy. So. Much. At the time, I loved it, but now that my tastes have become more refined (read: pretentious) it is hard for me to read any of it without seeing some glaring problems. Rather than pick out one book, I’ll throw that whole category in here.
I’m so good at not directly answering these things.