I am on a knitting and reading kick. Keeping busy right now. I am knitting a coat because my previous clothes do not fit me anymore, and I finally cleared out my closet from all the clothes that don’t fit, succumbing to the fact that I will never be skinny again. Thus, creating my new clothes. The coat proved to be a bit problematic as I miscounted the head opening and now need to figure out how to fix it. It’s a pain, and I am dreading that stage so I am drugging my feet to get there.
As far as reading is concerned, I am reading with my friend, and we exchange criticism and other thoughts. She is in Chicago, so it is all by text. So far, we have read the Rampant Trilogy by Carey (sci-fi), Lectures on Russian Literature by Nabokov, which proved to be intense and beautiful, and inspired many thoughts. I will never read Tolstoy the same way ever again. And Nabokov’s snobbiness and arrogance did not bother me. He deserved to be a snob. The two main themes that emerged are “how to be a creative reader” with instructions and deconstructing even minute details, and how they connect to the plot development of works critiqued. Every page of my copy was marred with tons of comments and passages underlined. After we finished that, we read Akunin’s “The Winter Queen,” which proved to be of great disappointment after reading reviews comparing him to Russian LeCarre and Tolstoy and stating it was the most anticipated book. All proven to be false. It is your standard run-of-the-mill detective novel full of funny literally references and absurd things like male corsets, which apparently are knife-proof. But if you take it as what it is, meaning the easy read, you don’t have to think about it’s alright.
Independent of that, I am reading “The Passenger” by Cormac McCarthy. He is one of my favorite writers, but this book is a complete failure. Apparently, he is reinventing himself and is of the opinion that he is one of the greatest intellectuals. The book is disjointed, with some chapters just fillers, and the dialogue is hard to follow. For example, there are numerous chapters about quantum physics that are just his mental masturbation and absolutely have nothing to do with the plot or character development. I would have quit after the first few pages, but I hate not finishing a book, so I am suffering through it. He should never have reinvented himself this way.
Since we are picking books in turns, the next book is my friend’s pick, and it is another trilogy by Carey. I am looking forward to reading that. Since my friend introduced me to him, I am really liking him.
THat’s it for today.
