word of soz

SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN

Just finished this book by Murakami. If anyone wants to discuss..let me know..because my feelings about it are a confused mess of envelopes and strange diseases

BOOKS BOUGHT TODAY

Stopped by Pegasus Bookstore in Berkeley tonight (right before watching Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows - which I fully recommend).. Walked out with L’Assommoir by Emile Zola, Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, My Years with Ayn Rand by Nathaniel Branden, and another one that I can’t list here because it is B’s Christmas present :) 

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

So I just finished reading the book We Need to Talk about Kevin, kindly loaned to me by Maddy :-) I started reading it Tuesday morning before my 11 am class and got so engrossed that I skipped my last class (which only happens once a week oops) to come home and read. I read without stopping until it was 2 am and I’d finished. I did stop once when Joey came over to bother me and I threw together a salad. I don’t have time to write in extensive detail about the book but you can find everything you need to know in the reviews on Goodreads. 

The book is about a kid named Kevin who goes on a shooting spree at his high school one day. Except he isn’t using a gun. Dun dun dun. And it’s written in the form of his mother, post-catastrophe, writing letters to his father (you assume he’s estranged) detailing the early life of their relationship, her pregnancy with Kevin, and Kevin’s childhood. 

The book was fantastic, if a little bit too wordy at times. Shriver has a remarkable ability to think of events that make your skin crawl, and to describe those tiny, back-of-your-head feelings that all of us have at one time or another, with remarkable clarity. She basically pinpoints all those little nagging feelings of despair you get when faced with certain characteristics of your life or of human socialization in general, and she expounds on them. It’s simultaneously dazzling and horrifying. I definitely highly recommend this book, but maybe not all in one night. I’m sure my dreams were terrible that night. And now I definitely never want to have a child.

Anonymous asked: trying to compile a summer reading list that covers all my areas... spirituality, music, history, fiction, non-fiction, whatever... what books do you recommend?

I’m so bad at coming up with book names from scratch, and I’m not at home so I don’t have my bookshelves in front of me! I will do my best though - sorry that this isn’t that great, and please ask me more questions whenever you have them! 

Spirituality - Awakening the Buddha Within
Music - Honestly, couldn’t give you too good of an opinion here, but from my boyfriend I know that he likes John Lennon’s biography a lot, and a book about the music industry in general called All You Need To Know About The Music Industry
History - Does it have to be American history? Both War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy are excellent. The former is more technical (about war) and less character-based plots, the latter is a much smoother read and tells you more of how Russian high society worked back in those days.
Fiction - I know I must sound like a broken record but really, I think everyone should read Ayn Rand’s books Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I was just reminded of this because I was looking at movie reviews for Atlas Shrugged. And take it all with a grain of salt but there’s no way you can read those and not feel some kind of inspired. I also highly recommend The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen. It’s about a fucked up super dysfunctional family and it’s gritty and real and good.
Non-Fiction:  Biased because I just re-read it, but definitely try Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, both autobiographies of Richard Feynman, a genius physicist. They’re really hilarious, interesting, and inspiring. 

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

• King, Queen, Knave, by Vladimir Nabokov (author of Lolita). Incredible. Tore through it in less than 24 hours, even taking a break from a party to hide in John’s room and read another chapter. Although love triangles are normally typical of trashy checkout line romance novels, when you combine a love triangle with Nabokov’s outstanding descriptive powers, the result is outstanding. I must say that overall, I do prefer Lolita, but I have read that a few times over, so that may be why. 
• The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. My 10 year-old sister is reading this in class, and I’ve always known it to be a childhood classic, but I never had the chance to read it. So I read it this week. Like other childrens’ books, such as Alice in Wonderland, it’s a little bit trippy. To quote Wikipedia, “The text is full of puns, and many events, such as Milo’s jump to the Island of Conclusions, exemplify literal meanings of English language idioms.” Despite its low challenge level, it’s a very fun, playful, and thought-provoking read. 
   
• “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” Further Adventures of a Curious Character, by Richard P. Feynman. This is the second autobiography (the first being “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”) by Richard Feynman, a GENIUS physicist. I put genius in all caps because I really fucking mean it. You should read his two autobiographies - they’re full of both hilarious and awe-inspiring and meaningful anecdotes from his life, and are incredibly interesting. This is my probably tenth or eleventh time reading this particular autobiography, but every time I do reread either of them, I find new things that I like. I’ll leave you with a quote from this one (it’s a reference to his work investigating the reason for the NASA Challenger explosion) that makes me giggle a little:

“I could give you an analog of that. You know those signs that appear in the back windows of automobiles - those little yellow diamonds that say BABY ON BOARD, and things like that? You don’t have to tell me there’s a baby on board; I’m gonna drive carefully anyway! What am I supposed to do when I see there’s a baby on board: act differently? As if I’m suddenly gonna drive more carefully and not hit the car because there’s a baby on board, when all I’m trying to do is not hit it anyways! 

So NASA was trying to get the shuttle up anyway: you don’t have to say there’s a baby on board, or there’s a teacher on board, or it’s important to get this one up for the President.”

DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA (PT.II)

I finished this book on the plane up to Northern California. The woman next to me started asking me about it and after answering several of her questions and seeing that she was truly interested in bettering our world through vegetarianism, I decided to pass on the inspiration and give my book to her. I hope it helps her make some earth- and animal-friendly decisions! Before that though, I was thinking about how I wanted to buy a bunch of copies on Amazon (they are super f’in cheap.. books ain’t worth shiet these days) and give them to some of my friends. However, if you are down to take the initiative to read it on your own, know that the book is split into three parts, in this order:

1) The horrific crimes committed against animals that are raised for our consumption

2) The surplus of health dangers that arise from eating animal products

3) How we are encouraging world hunger by eating meat

I recommend that you read the parts in this order: 2, 3, 1. And if you do read it, lemme know whatchu think. 

DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA

Diet for a New America is a powerful indictment of our dietary practices that should be read by everyone interested in healthy living. It is a well-researched, well-documented and eye-opening account of the myths and truths about meat, milk, fat and protein. I will recommend this book to patients, friends, and relatives. — Andrew Weil, M.D., Author, Spontaneous Healing

I just ordered this on Amazon - has anyone read it? Thoughts?

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

• The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis: As a kid, I was never very impressed by the Chronicles of Narnia series. I read them all, but only once; not a good sign, because as a child I was an obsessively prolific reader. When I got older, I found out that Lewis was a leading Christian author, which didn’t negatively affect my inclinations towards his writing, but didn’t really encourage me to seek more of his work either. However, I picked up The Screwtape Letters at my friend’s house a couple weeks ago, and I have to say that I am sufficiently impressed. The book is composed of letters written from a devil to his nephew, a devil-in-training, giving advice on how to steer a young human man, the nephew’s ‘subject’, away from Heaven and into the fires of Hell. Lewis delivers absolutely stunning insight into the nature of men, with extraordinary depth and clarity. He exposes our human weaknesses so knowingly that you might blush while reading, and demonstrates how easily we are tricked into happiness or convincing ourselves that we are happy. It’s really a marvelous piece of work, and I’m having a very hard time deciding which passage(s) to blog. Highly recommended. 
• Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson: Mary finished reading this while she was staying at my house, and left it with me to read. I picked it up yesterday morning and was unable to do anything else the entire day as I wolfed it down. I even read while I was driving.. Anyways, it’s a historical account of the World Fair which took place in Chicago in 1893, but it’s written like a fiction novel; and indeed, Larson’s portrayal and research of the events that took place during those years is so interesting that it’s hard to believe it’s non-fiction. The book follows the lives of two men, Daniel Burnham, the architect in charge of the World Fair, and H. H. Holmes, the beguiling doctor and gruesome serial killer. Between Burnham’s stress over having the World Fair finished in time and Holmes’ sexual climaxing over the dying gasps of pretty young women (PYTs), this book is fucking gooood. And you get some history lessons along the way, always a good thing. Also very highly recommended. My favorite perks: you learn the origins of the Ferris wheel, and you find out that Pabst Blue Ribbon is famous today because it won first place in the World Fair beer competition, circa 1983. I wonder what modern hipsters think of that.. 

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

• Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer:
  This is a true story, based on the life of Chris McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp) who, after graduating college, donated his ~$24,000 savings to a charity, rid himself of most of his worldly possessions, and set off to live off the land for the rest of his life (which would sadly be only two more years). He died during his final adventure in Alaska, where he lasted 112 days. This was immensely interesting and inspiring, and made me want to research edible plants and go survive in the wilderness with only what I can carry on my back.. For two weeks max, of course. If you suspect that you have an inner adventurer and that this material world is too constraining on your bursting soul, then you should read this. It is probably the push you need to get the fuck outta town. I haven’t seen the movie, is it good?
• The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory:
  I tore this book a new asshole. It’s been a long time since any fiction novel drew me in like this one did - perhaps though, because it is historical fiction. Also, as you may know, I am obsessed with English literature. This book did not leave my hands until I finished it. I mean like walking through the parking lot reading, getting to my car to go somewhere and ending up sitting there for half an hour reading, choosing reading over beer, etc. etc. The approximately 670 pages took me from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon. You probably know the plot because of the movie that came out - which I haven’t seen either, was it good? - but it’s set in the Tudor period (1500’s) and follows Anne and Mary of the royal Boleyn family as they vie for Henry VIII’s love. That makes it sound so simple, but what I truly find intriguing about English high society in the olden days is the immense COMPLEXITY of relationships. For example, this logic: if she is married, she can sleep with the king, but not court him openly, and her husband will get favors.. But if she isn’t married, she can court him openly, but not sleep with him, and no man will marry her. Also, the properness with which they speak; their minds must have worked in such interestingly twisted linguistic ways! The book isn’t that well written, but Gregory knows her historical shit and it’s pretty damn good.
• Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, by Robert Waggoner:
  Dangerous is very interested in lucid dreaming, so he bought this book awhile back and has been reading it. I was disinterested in the whole concept at first, but was, of course, drawn in by his fascinated ramblings, and now I am reading it with him and am equally fascinated. What is lucid dreaming? It is where you are aware that you are dreaming and you can manipulate your dream. Eventually, after years of practice, lucid dreaming takes you to a higher discovery of your unconscious and Self. Here are a few interesting ideas and choice quotes I underlined from Part I of the book: 
  
  “To protect our view of ourself, we imagine that impulses and desires arise from the unconscious, instead of admitting that they are our ego ideas brought into the unconscious.”
  “Because the unconscious is not just a reactive mirror reflection, but an independent, productive activity, its realm of experience is a self-contained world, having its own reality, of which we can only say that it affects us as we affect it - precisely what we say about our experience of the outer [physical] world.” 
  “We tend to consider dreams as ‘unreal’ and physical life as ‘real’, yet who hasn’t woken from a frightening dream with his or her heart pumping wildly? if the dream is unreal, how does an unreal event affect the physical body in such a real, dramatic way?” 

What I’ve been reading

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. If anybody noticed my recent onslaught of mind-blowing fact posting, those are all from this book. It’s pretty much what the title describes; it covers the origin of the universe all the way through where we are today. If you’re curious about the world around you but want to learn it in layman’s terms, this is definitely the book for you (In fact, “a book about the universe in layman’s terms” is the criteria I gave Mary for finding my Christmas present, and this is what she came up with).

Mary to bookstore worker: “My friend wants ‘a book about the universe in layman’s terms’”

Bookstore worker: “Your friend sounds like a piece of work” 

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. This is also a mind-blowing book, perhaps even more so than the first one, because it delves deeper into the concepts behind physics. It focuses mainly on the superstring theory, but in doing so, also gives in-depth explanations of Einstein’s theory of general relativity and Feynman’s discoveries in quantum mechanics. I’m about 1/3 of the way through, and have been interrupting it for other works of literature; the material in it is so heavy that I have to read at a much slower rate, constantly go back to reread pages and passages, and do some heavy-duty highlighting of key ideas. It makes my brain hurt so good.

Venus Drive by Sam Lipsyte. Why are my pictures getting smaller and smaller?? Anyways…this is a collection of brutally fucked up short stories by Sam Lipsyte, loaned to me by my lovely friend Clifford. To give you an idea of the nature of fuckedupness - the first story involves a guy banging his sister. Lipsyte has been compared to Charles Bukowski, if that gives you any bearing on the nature of his writing. It’s a quick but intense read that leaves you feeling a little barren and desolate.

1 Dead in Attic by Chris Rose. This is a non-fiction memoir of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath from New Orleans reporter Chris Rose. I’m not very into it because I mildly dislike Rose’s style of writing, but I’m more than halfway through anyways, because the content is raw and powerful. For those of you who reside in New Orleans but weren’t around for Katrina, this provides good imagery as it describes well-known places in our beloved city, and how they changed after the hurricane.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I had already read this a couple years ago, but I wasn’t much impressed by it. However, two things happened recently - a blogger I follow began singing praises of this book, and one of my best friends, Bianca, asked me to bring it to her from home because she had wanted to read it for a long time. These things got me thinking I should give it a second try. My decision was even more supported by the fact that Bianca fucking loved it. I haven’t really come up with a conclusion yet, to be honest. I kind of feel the same about it, except maybe with a renewed respect for Nabokov’s extensive vocabulary and descriptive skills.

Pygmy by Chuck Palahnuik. This is Chuck P’s newest work..it was a pretty crazy ride. I finished it one go today at Borders. If you’ve ever read A Clockwork Orange, this is similar to that, in that it’s written so strangely that you have to basically decipher every sentence. And, also like A Clockwork Orange, it’s relatively short. I thought the plot was extreeeemely interesting - it’s written from the point of view of a kid from a totalitarian country, who harbors pure unadulterated hatred for America and all Americans, and who comes to America (as well as with a few other “operative agents”) to pose as foreign exchange students but eventually unlease “Operation Havoc” on our unsuspecting country. He refers to himself as “operative me” and constantly hypothesizes about how easily he could kill his host family and other people he encounters, starting with the phrase “could be…”. I really didn’t like Chuck’s last work, Snuff, but this was much, much better. I willingly rode my bike back to campus in the rain just so I could stay and finish it. Go for it.