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i think it's painfully obvious that i have formed an obsession with books. after reading the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger-- i am in dire need of books.
i have nothing to blog about so i guess i'll shortly ramble about the books i'm looking for. special thanks to leo for feeding my new obsession and tbr.
first, i would love to read søren kierkegaard's works. specifically either/or and the sickness unto death. i discovered him and his work after reading the catcher in the rye .. mainly because i was searching for books with elliott smith vibes which i've already talked about in my last blog. there's just something so intriguing about the way he thinks and i genuinely have no words. some of the things he's written about are things i've thought of in the past, this is partly why i'd love to read more on his philosophies.
second, i'm planning to buy some books by kafka and plath. i know that they're quite popular authors in this day and age so i gave it a go and read some of the excerpts from their diaries. i enjoy the sorrowful and meaningful diary logs they've written and i am ready to spend every cent in my wallet for their works. again, like kierkegaard, i have thought of some of the thoughts they've had in the past. there's just something so tremendously interesting about the fact that none of my thoughts are bloody original... i'm joking, of course, but still it is quite poetic and stunning to me that other people have thought of the same thoughts i've had. that other people have probably felt what i felt and have probably experienced what i've experienced thousands of years before i have. there's something ever so human about that and i can't quite explain it properly.
anyways, for the third thing i've been wanting to read is a book by roberto bolaño titled last nights on earth. i accidentally wrote 'late' instead of 'last' on a blog i made while talking about books .. i am terribly sorry roberto bolaño .. anyways i also found this while looking for books with elliott smith vibes. from what i've read, i know it's a book featuring multiple short stories. from it's reviews on goodreads i also know that it's deep and it's a phenominal piece of chilean literature. i don't have much to say about it other than the fact that i may be sucked into it once i find a copy.
fourth, crush by richard siken. i am speechless. from the excerpts i've read i am blown away by his way of writing such poetic pieces of literature. if i'm being honest (which i probably am), the stuff he's written hit alarmingly close to home. again, much like bolaño's book, i will be sucked into it once i find a copy.
before i continue, i just want to talk about pre-loved books. by pre-loved i mean books that have been read and annotated on by someone else. i absolutely love it when i find old books with creases and cracks on the spine; it makes reading more fun in a way. by fun i mean comforting. i love the fact that i know someone enjoyed or hated the copy of the book i'm reading. to add to this, i love annotations. i love annotated books, especially if they've been annotated by someone i don't know. someone who probably doesn't know of my being. it's stepping into the mind of someone else and reading their own reactions and thoughts on a book i'm just now discovering.
i also love it when my friends annotate on my books. you see, my two friends and i have this thing where we read books and pass them around our small circle. we all have our own pen names, mine's doctor watson (yes, i know, it's cheesy.), my friend's pen name is player 6, and unfortunately i forgot my other friend's pen name-- which is horrible given that we usually read her books. she's the one who lent me a copy of the catcher in the rye. our small book club thing has it's own name or dedication of sorts. "to the three readers, to make much of time."; i write it on the first page of every book we read. it's a reference to robert herrick's poem that was featured on dead poets society. other than that dedication thing, we have a poem written under it. since my mind's been a bit foggy, i forgot what it was-- but from what i recall, it was a stanza from a poem about friendship. i'm not so sure if it was written by thoreau. so far we've read the perks of being a wallflower, the song of achilles (although i haven't finished this one .. my friend is still finishing it), and perhaps a lot of other stuff i fail to recall.
going back to the books i want to read, i'd love to read don't point that thing at me by kyril bonfiglioli. from the title alone, i found the want to read it. it's a series of crime thrillers published in the '70s from what i've heard. i've read a bunch of reviews on it and i genuinely need to get this book on my hands. this was reccomended to me by leo who commented on my last blog. thanks mate!
for the sixth book (or rather the eigth) i'd love to read is any of the arséne lupin novels. i've seen a lot of amazing reviews about this particular character and the books surrounding him. also there's something about french literature that i'm drawn to. maybe it's because they're french, i don't know... i mean it is lovely to say "oh i read a piece french literature yesterday." or "yeah i've been watching old french films." .. maybe i just like saying french. anyways enough with my french thing. the books follow the stories of a witty burglar named arséne lupin (as i stated), it's very interesting from the reviews i've read. lupin also has a nemisis who is a detective. sounds oddly familiar, does it not? ok fine, i know i'm on the verge of screaming "sherlock reference" but i won't because i know these stories are more than just "sherlock if he was a french thief". or rather "moriarty if he was a french thief". i have yet to find out... anyways i feel like this will be a fantastic read and i am looking for a collection of his stories somewhere in the crooks of the few bookshops near me. this was also reccomended by leo! thank you again.
the seventh book i'd love to read is the franchise affair by josephine tey. from what i've read, it is one of the greatest pieces of mystery/crime fiction in the world. i am intrigued by it's fascinating plot. again, i will be delighted to look for this. i have not much to say about this book other than the fact that i need to scratch an itch and get it already. reccomended by leo the great.
the second to the last book i'd love to read is someday this pain will be useful to you by peter cameron. it's a coming-of-age about an 18 year old named james sveck who is beginning his freshman year at brown. i found this when i was looking for books similar to the catcher and elliott smith. from it's reviews, i know that this is going to be an incredible read. also i think it's originally written in spanish or another latin language, i'm not completely sure. i have a feeling i'll enjoy this and i'll never get over it much like the catcher.
and for the last book, the outsiders by s.e. hinton. this was reccomended by leo and the friend i told you about earlier, the one who lent me her copy of the catcher in the rye and the perks of being a wallflower. from what i've heard, it's compares to dead poets society and the secret history. i haven't read the second one i mentioned but since they're all deep coming-of-age books in which the characters find their identities and meanings in life-- i'm all in. this book is about society's norms and breaking them to be yourself. hopefully i can find a copy of it before my other friend does.
i have a lot more i want to read (including the reccomendations i got from my previous blog) but these are the top contendors for now.
unfortunately even if most are on school break, your cheesy insecure blogger over here still goes to school. like i said before, i won't be completely bitter about it. i just want to sleep in and read.
oh and before i end this, remember when i said i disliked math? yup, i flunked it! last quarter was the most hectic quarter i've been through. it was challenging academically and mentally if i'm being honest, so it's no surprise i'd flunk mathematics. i tried everything i could but apparently that wasn't enough. awful thing, that is. i'm focusing more on it this quarter because i cannot afford getting another failing grade. i've never failed any classes in my life, so this is a horrible thing for me. from what i hear this will affect my chances of getting into college. that sucks. i know flunking math is worse for those who want to pursue stem or courses that require board exams because apparently universities check for grades below 80 before letting students in. i'm glad i'm more on the arts side so i won't be banished from my dream college. but still, even if i'm not taking up a course that specializes stem-- it's still a bad thing that i flunked. i knew it wss coming and i feel awful about it.
that's all i had to say. i hope you have a great week and i pray you don't flunk math like me. if you're still in school like me...
wishing you all the best,
r.
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leo
lol, i hope the list serves you well ^ ^
you're making me want to read more classics- as you may be able to tell, i usually go for contemporary stuff, like fantasy from the past thirty-odd years and some (i say this affectionately) somewhat pulpy xianxia. maybe this is a totally different thing to what you're saying, but it would be interesting to encounter some of the trains of thought i've had in much older works. although, sometimes, i've only noticed things like that when they're pointed out to me..
the main classic i'm interested in reading right now is moby-dick by herman melville. partly because of a painting i've looked for but not been able to find that with ishmael looking up at the creature's eye. something about the concept of the whale and human's relationship really sticks out to me. it'll probably be a while until i get around to it, but i do plan to soon.
("i'm going to be dead before i read the books i'm going to read" - tom stoppard lol. in all seriousness though, i feel like iron lung will keep it in my mind for sometime in the next few months.)
i also recently found out a friend had a lovely copy of dracula sitting unread on their shelf, virtually for aesthetic purposes, and immediately confiscated it. i'll give it back when i'm done. which will be soon. (insert the tom stoppard quote for the second time)
about kafka - is it true that he once wrote that "my poems are just an attempt to prove to myself i am not altogether stupid"? i feel like i read it somewhere before and remembered it because, well, real, but it might be completely misattributed,,
"none of my thoughts are bloody original" lmao,, i think i read someone say that ancient egyptians were saying that all the good ideas had been done already. it's childish, but i sometimes get frustrated by the fact that all the personal lessons i have to learn have already been learned over and over. can't someone just tell me the answers, given that we have all of history to draw on? lol.
the point about people experiencing the same things throughout time is a nice one, i've seen it often online over the past few years, much to my delight. i like the idea - the probably true idea - that humans have always been and will always be humans.
i've heard of last nights on earth, i might even have a copy,,
pre loved books!! i'm surrounded by them. they're fantastic. as for annotations, i'm usually too chicken to annotate books unless it's for schoolwork, but it's fun to find others' annotations. i have a copy of dorian gray with a stranger's annotations, a lot of them pertaining to the gay parts, and they've actually helped me out once or twice in class before,, thank u random stranger.
my mum is a writer, and a few years ago i read one of her manuscripts, annotating as i went, and she's only recently gone back to that manuscript, and she's said some interesting stuff about my old annotations. i find them horribly embarrassing because i must have been fourteen-ish and had about as good a filter as a broken sieve, but she says they've been helpful and it's like having a conversation with me as she reads,, but a conversation with past me, i guess. although she has asked me to explain a piece of text slang i keep writing that i haven't used for actual years. i didn't know what to tell her.
i think it's possible i like having annotations less because of the insight, though that's nice too, and more because it's like having company. reading can be social, but i wouldn't call it a naturally social activity, and most books don't have "fandoms" or anything. i don't know, does that make me sound like a lonely person? even if i logically know people have read a book before me and will after me and i'm not the only one in the world who knows about it, it can make a world of difference to know someone has been exactly where you are. even just one of those notes in the corner of the first blank page - "happy birthday! from mike."
sorry, doctor watson is an excellent pen name, i don't know what you're talking about.
ok so it's a little cheesy but chiefly excellent, i'm not hearing it.when you said it has its own dedication, i was a little bit waiting for the dead poets society mention/reference, lol. that sounds like fun. two of my friends and i were talking about starting a book club with, quote, "one copy of house of leaves between us", as it's fairly hard to get hold of and we've all wanted to read it for a while. but i have to say, i'm not sure i believe in our ability to stay consistent and finish a book in a reasonable amount of time, and i have this lack of faith for a different reason for each person..
for example, one is the person who was using that dracula to accentuate his shelves. he does like reading and he's good at it, he just also happens to be the kind of person who collects books but doesn't read them. he doesn't even collect them based on their value or how aesthetically pleasing they are, he collects them based on how much value they would have to someone who did want to read them, and then doesn't read them...anyway, sorry, i feel like i went on an anecdote and when i looked back it was a rant. i don't say any of this with disdain for the friend (...not much), but it exasperates me a bit, and i thought it might entertain you. moving swiftly on.
as i say, i'm very happy to be of service :^) especially when i'm of some literary use,, i'm still just a kid who hasn't read nearly as many books as i'd like to have, but luckily working to fix that is a good time. mostly. sometimes books throw knives at you (in an emotional way), but if they're hitting, that usually means the book is good. i don't really know where i was going with this. i like books.
honestly, i think you're allowed to point out how much arsene lupin has in common with sherlock given that his creator is basically in the same boat dying to bring him up lmao. i mean, "herlock sholmes"...really. hope you enjoy them! in no small part thanks to persona 5, the gentleman thief archetype has a special place in the left atrium of my heart. (and "french" is fun to say. as is "arsene lupin", in my opinion. come on. lupin. i've been bringing him up ad nauseam. maybe just to say his name and stuff like "his exploits" and "gentleman thief" and "herlock sholmes".)
someday this pain will be useful to you sounds interesting,, i might look into that one too.
"breaking them to be yourself" sounds very dead poets society, yeah. i'm so still not completely out of that movie. send help.
ah, mathematics,, the bane of so many of us. i hope you're feeling slightly better now, that sounds very sucks and i fully sympathise, considering the purgatory that is my current course,,
i don't know if you are doing this, but please don't beat yourself up about it. we all have weak spots in addition to our strengths. sounds like you took quite a shot at it despite everything happening, and i think that in itself is really admirable. maybe this is a very weird thing to say to an internet stranger, in which case i sincerely apologise, but let me know if i can help? the rubber duck method works for writing, maybe it's applicable here.
sorry for going on so much. a plague on your comment section.. this could practically be a physical letter. my only hope is that it isn't boring, or not too boring, at least...best of luck with everything.
(okay, i have one other hope.
hello!!
contemp is interesting. i do enjoy reading it from time to time because of my friends. also you're quite spot on.
that's cool! i've only head some tidbits of it and i've skimmed through the book when i see it in bookshops. i mean this with no offense but is it worth a read? i am interested and i might add it to my tbr (which is awfully long if i think about it).
i fully agree with tom stoppard (and you). i feel like i need a completely different lifetime where i focus on rrading and writing and physical media. too little time, and too empty of a wallet. lol
that's terrible, but unfortunately i am slightly guilty for leaving my books alone and not reading them. i just stare at them from time to time and skim. i have read some of my books but the rest i may give up because they've been more like decoration in my room. of course, i don't mean any offense to the authors. they're probably just not my type of books-- or maybe i'm procrastinating.
from my poor knowledge it is from a conversation he shared with someone i completely forgot the name of (you can see how forgetful i am as i go on with writing this abomination of a respone). i 100% relate to what he said. though my poems are mediocre at best and he's a better writer.
that's amazing, i'd love a copy of the portriat of dorian gray that's annotated. lucky you.
your mum being a writer is so cool. i can imagine she's amazing at wroting and all. i can see where you get your talent lol... also the slang part... i audibly giggled.
if that makes you sound lonely consider me a loner as well.
i love those notes. seeing them make me feel nostalgic for a past i never had. i usually get used records and i see notes like that written on the covers.
okay now i slightly remember my friend's pen name... ignore my pen name i don't know what caused me to choose that. i knew it sounded corny and i still went with it. also yes, dead poets society, i was begging myself to mention it.
hopefully you and your soon to be book club make it and finish at least one novel. best wishes to you and your friends! "i don't say any of this with disdain for the friend (...not much)" i'm cackling
you need not worry, i'm entertained. hopefully you feel the same way about my blogs and whatever.
i do like saying arsene lupin... it's so satisfying and chic for some reason. herlock shlomes lol
no one's completely out of that movie, don't worry.
thank you for your words. this means the world to me. i'm spending extra time working on my math and i think i'm doing well.
again, don't fret (i've never said that before). if this was a plague o'd be more than happy to turn ill because of it. it's the complete opposite of boring.
i feel like a child seeing a magic trick, my html skills have turned rusty nowadays. im giggling.
wishing you the universe,
r.
by rey; ; Report
also i sort of consider you as my penpal now .. if that isn't weird .. just remembered lol.
by rey; ; Report
if you're asking if moby-dick is worth a read, i'll let you know my thoughts when i'm properly reading it. i've heard it's quite long,,,
"too little time, and too empty of a wallet" come to the bookshop i volunteer at, i'll give you a discount!!
leaving the books alone because you're busy or reading other things or procrastinating are one type of thing, but actively co-ordinating the edition with its surroundings is a whole other ballpark,,,
it's honestly kind of nice that you specify you don't mean to offend the authors, i never would've considered something like that, lol. if i had, i'd probably reference the main character. oh, i have macbeth here in my backpack! it's kind of a tight squeeze but he says he's fine
"abomination of a response" pschhht, if this is an abomination then my comments should probably never have seen the light of day. alas, released into the wild both yours and mine are. may they fare well and make it through the winter...where was i going with this joke? anyway, yeah, definitely a relatable statement.
ah, well, it's not thoroughly annotated, and in pretty large writing when it is - seriously, without exaggeration at least five times the size i write when i'm writing in small spaces like margins - but yes, it's very nice to have. i wonder slightly if i'd get on with that person if we ever met.
she is pretty cool. "talent" is very generous of you to say about me, though. my recent works make me shudder just thinking about them and not in a "the genre is horror" way. thank u though
(about the loneliness) yet to be determined
used records!! very cool!! i'm assuming you mean the music kind here, i'm always very impressed at secondhand bookshops by people who know how to handle records. they're very arcane objects to me. i don't know if i've even ever handled one...
i continue to refuse to ignore your pen name, doctor. it's a fun time!! embrace it! :^D
lupin lupin lupin lupin
arsene arsene arsene
herlock sherlock wilson watson sholmes sholmes sholmes sholmes
lupin lupin lupin lupin torments loves steals paris
(...ok, i've made it not chic. but that was fun to type. the last line makes more sense with the rhythm if you pronounce "paris" with a french accent, so with a silent s... i don't know what i'm doing. having fun though.)
good to know it is a normal experience to not quite have escaped dead poets society. not quite as comforting to discover i will never leave
awesome that you're doing well on maths!! good luck keeping it up.
(first time for everything, and it's a good phrase.) i'm very glad to hear that, though that must be a sentence very rarely said...ever, really. good job (i think).
if you're interested, you could look at the "allowed html tags" section in the side column whenever you post or comment something, and just experiment with what they do - you generally just have to write the tag, then the content, then the same tag again but with a slash at the start to close it off. hopefully this example works and stays as plaintext instead of doing something strange and codey.
...unless, of course, you would rather preserve the opportunity to be surprised again. which is perfectly valid too. :v
it's not weird in my head! it's nice conversing like this. maybe i should start signing off too.
see you on the other side,
leo
by leo; ; Report
P.S. the example did not work. ah well. you get the idea. :^)
by leo; ; Report