Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Life's too short to read lame books.

Mr. Bryson, you have let me down. =(


I picked up Made in America because I've been on quite a Bill Bryson kick lately but it is not at all what I expected. I thought it would be travel-related, like about interesting places in the states. I know he wrote a book like that...it's just not this one. This one is about American English. And while that subject usually interests me... this one just leaves me flat. I really don't need to know why some cities are called " -boro" (Hillsboro) and others "- burg" (Newburg).


And I'm irritated, the used bookstore had a whole stack of Jane Austen books and I'd gotten it into my head to read Persuasion next. But when I got there they didn't have it. I could have picked up Northanger Abby but you know... I got into a snit because it didn't have what I wanted.


I also recently finished Wuthering Heights. I had been advised against reading it... and I can see why. The book is deeee-pressing. There's not really a single character with whom I can identify. And it doesn't help much that among the characters introduced in the first few chapters there's a Heathcliff, Cahterine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton, Heathcliff Linton, Hareton Earnshaw, Hindley Earnshaw, and I think a grandfater Hareton Earnshaw as well. I made a list of who was who and still couldn't quite keep all the relationships straight. Gah... far too much work! Irredeemable and indistinguishable characters aside... it was a good book. I was absolutely captivated by the story and did want to know how it turned out. There's a dark Gothic feel to the story that could rival even the most teen-angsty vampire book out there. So in that respect it was refreshing to read a story of the Regency period* that's not all fancy balls and farcical romances. Still I wouldn't say that I *enjoyed* reading it.


I have a couple more books on my shelf... but nothing I'm extremely eager to read. I can't wait to get back home to whole libraries full of books in English. Never mind Powells and all the other bookstores I could practically live in if allowed. Soon soon soon!

TAG: Code Watermelon






*Technically the story takes place in the Georgian period but it's close enough.

2 comments:

Batty said...

Yeah, don't force yourself. There are other books out there.

Unknown said...

I felt the same way about Wuthering Heights - I was glad that I read it but I didn't *enjoy* it.

Also, I have a random question about Thailand. My friend whose mom is Thai told me that they don't use chopsticks in Thailand (or at least not traditionally). But what do they use? Spoons? Forks?