My favourite place to read is really anywhere so long as I can spread myself out. Couch, rug, bed, whatever feels best. This is because I’m a fidgeter. I flip-flop around a book like it’s the only thing I have to hold onto in a storm.
— Kate Beaton (x)
Currently reading: The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson; Brave New World - Aldous Huxley; A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand; A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami; Every Nine Seconds - Joseph Brockton; Salad Days - Charles Romalotti.
I finished Salad Days about a week ago, and honestly I just wanted to let it linger for a bit before diving into something new. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Salad Days, considering how I bought it on a complete whim, totally unheard of. If you’re a fan of music, of the passion and energy that goes into the creation and performance of music as an art form, if you’re curious about the gritty, hard reality of tour life, of the ceaseless struggle between staying true to your creative passions while, you know, also wanting to eat every day, and if you’re wondering what it’s like to grow up in a small midwestern town and feel like you’ll never fit in, I would highly, highly recommend this one.
One of my most adored and simultaneously most despised feelings is when, upon finishing a book, I think, “goddamn, I wish I’d written that.”
“Overall, though, it’s the music, the energy. It’s the highest human achievement. You’ll never get the same satisfaction from a person. Too many variables, too many emotions at stake. Music is pure. That’s all there is in life. All my life I have listened to great music, wondering how a stranger could make me feel so much. That, to me, is love. I wanted that power, that power of expression. It’s our only chance to grip immortality.”
- Salad Days, Charles Romalotti
Currently reading: Salad Days - Charles Romalotti
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson; Brave New World - Aldous Huxley; A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand; A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami; Every Nine Seconds - Joseph Brockton.
Things I am not above: buying and reading a book I’d never heard of because the title is Patrick Stump lyrics. Time to get my mid-80s punk/hardcore on.
Currently reading: Every Nine Seconds - Joseph Brockton
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson; Brave New World - Aldous Huxley; A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand; A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami.
Yes, I am now reading what is essentially (American) Queer as Folk retro canon fanfiction, in which Brian and Michael are in high school. I found it at the Newberry Library book fair last weekend. All attempts to shame me out of it shall be futile.
I got through 32 pages in my 16 minute train commute this morning, and every last word is deliciously cringe-worthy and awful.
Currently reading: A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson; Brave New World - Aldous Huxley; A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand.
Currently reading: A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson; Brave New World - Aldous Huxley.
Alright, look. I needed something light and brainless after reading so many consecutive pages of dark despair. So… I’m about 100 pages into this thing? And I’m a little bored. Book snob, I know.
Currently reading: Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson.
I picked up this copy of Brave New World for $3 at a used book store sometime in May. I’ve never read it, but it seems like I should have, at some point, considering I have a literature degree and all.
Currently reading: The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
Previously: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro; A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore; Decoded - Jay-Z; Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook, with Mac McCaughan & Laura Ballance; The Importance of Music to Girls - Lavinia Greenlaw; On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan; A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick; The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis; Henderson The Rain King - Saul Bellow; Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami; Blink - Malcolm Gladwell; Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides.
Still making my way through Lauren J.’s bookshelf. Middlesex was astoundingly fantastic.
