Plans for this summer (other than find a job SOMEWHERE PLEASEBABYJESUSJUSTSOMETHINGTOGETMONEYAUGHHHH):
- make the money to move to Chicago in September.
- read.
On that second point, I've decided that it's been way too long since I've read for leisure. I still am just barely started in on a longform poetry/prose book that I bought last semester. So, I asked around my friends (and sister) for recommendations. Apart from getting suggestions for books I would otherwise have not really known about, it strikes me as a glimpse into the more private interests of other people. I mean, it's not too often that people discuss what they're reading in passing with each other, and sometimes people are really private about what they read. I like the opportunity of sharing a bit of this world with them.
Anyway! Enough waxing rhapsodic. My summer reading list as it stands now is:
- The Terror, Dan Simmons. (rec'd by Morey, although the book is Leanne's)
I'm excited for this one, because I like history stuff and war movies and the like. It follows the (very real, although novelized) events of late 1800's British sea exploration. By which I mean, the period in Britain's history where they sent ships out to travel up around the Arctic, basically sending sailors off to freeze and die in the name of the Crown. I think this book also has some b-plot of mystery something-or-other, but it still sounds good. And I agree with Morey, that this is going to be a good summer book-- reading about icy freezing waters when sweating profusely? Yes please!
- anything by Jim Butcher; possibly The Dresden Files. (rec'd by Kevin)
I'm also really interested in trying some of Butcher's stuff, but maybe for a more personal reason. Kevin loves to read, but is always really defensive and secretive about what he's reading. He probably thinks that he's going to get judged or made fun of, as a lot of what he likes to read falls under sci-fi/fantasy. What I think is that this genre of book has a stigma that carries the nerdy-D&D-reclusive-teenager association well past "Young Adult" books. Some people don't realize that sci-fi stuff can be clever and mature and well-written and meant for someone older than 13. I consider Ray Bradbury to be a sci-fi writer, and he is absolutely my favorite writer ever-- the way he commands words? Glorious. I can't get enough of his evocative use of language. LOVE.
...Um. Okay. Enough salivating. So back to Jim Butcher (who, for some reason, I keep wanting to call Sam Butcher. Different guy.). I'm really intrigued, because I've never read anything by or about him. I want to make sure to choose something that's appropriately indicative of his body of work. Maybe the first three of The Dresden Files-- apparently they can be found grouped into one hardcover deal-y. I'm excited to read him, because (among other reasons) I feel like I'm being afforded exclusive access to a little world that Kevin keeps kind of private. Accomplishment! Bonding! Et cetera!
- buttloads of Shakespeare; Hamlet, Othello, A Winter's Tale... (bagful given to me by Leanne)
I can't believe my personal *library of Shakespeare* quadrupled instantly! Leanne let me have a bag of 8 books that she has her own copies of, or something. Now, I already own the arguably more common Bard works (read: english class textbooks from high school)-- R&J, Midsummer, and Twelfth Night (that one's from college). I was pleased to find that the ones I got from Leanne are all new to me! Not that I don't know of them, just that I've never read them.
...Cue mutinous theatre-folk across the country perking up like disapproving prairie dogs at the fact I've never read Hamlet. ("But I've seen Lion King so that's good enough. Right? Right??")
So I'm excited to have some summer reading that will stretch my brain and require third and fourth readings. That's something I've definitely always loved about Shakespeare's mastery of the written word; there's so much there that more and new tidbits can be found in each subsequent reading!
- Only Revolutions, Mark Z. Danielewski. (edited-to-add; I can't believe I forgot to list this one! it's the book I mentioned in the beginning that I started but never finished!)
I can't *wait* to finish this. I am already in total and complete love with it. It's art in book form: it's a work of words that reads as a poem; as a rambling run-on sentence; as wanderlust feelings that you never knew you had, put onto paper. I don't even think I can properly describe it. It's the story (I say "story" loosely, as it is so oddly written) of a teenage boy and girl, Sam and Hailey, who meet and begin a road-trip/adventure of sorts across America's land and history. Hailey's take is written from one cover; flip the book, and Sam's begins from the other. The margins are packed with small lists of dates and events from the country's history. The covers are totally gorgeous in their own right; a visual shadowbox of stones, birds, trinkets, and flowers in a rich palette of yellow or green (depending on whose cover you're looking at). The author has a note in which he recommends reading 8 pages of each narrative at a time; there are 2 ribbons glued in the spine to help you keep track.
Here's a taste of Sam's narrative (misspellings are intentional):
From palisade and powdery saddle,
fumarole, flume and falls,
I hurtle free, even if Them allso
hanker to follow me,
something else trailing even
Them, beyond outrage & relief,
a Kindness
never outdone, never survived.
A horror I should easily outrun
but can't leave behind, traversing
all winds except for this one,
which dares me, dogs me,
bewares me to burn
the World quick.
I just can't get over how much of a beautiful and clever little complete package this book is. The cadence of the writing... the details of the presentation... the idea behind it... I love it. All of it. I can't even help how impossibly excited this book makes me.
Ahh, books. How I love you so.
On a similar, book-related note: I can't decide if the Kindle grosses me out or offends me. Like, I know I get this weird disgusted feeling about it... because really? People are *over* paper books? This displeases me.
