11.18.2014

currently


this book vortex I couldn't find credit for represents my life
   We've gone over this before, but it is no less of a problem for me now than it was previously. I have several books on the go, some might say I have too many in the process of being read. Maybe I have book-commitment issues, maybe I'm expressing to my full capabilities, maybe it's just the way I read.

   Here's a (non-complete) list of the books I am part-way through at the moment:
  1. HHhH / Laurent Binet. I put this book down for a long time, because suddenly I was reading more than one book about Reinhardt Heydrich and if you want to be unhappy, you can try reading more than one book about war criminals at once. It's a recipe for curling up sadly on your bed. But I'm far enough removed, and I decided to stop reading the extensive history of the SS I was working on, and have come back to HHhH. 
  2. Homage to Catalonia / George Orwell. I have long since known that my knowledge of various European wars is lacking, especially when it comes to the confusing and convoluted Spanish Civil War. Much to my relief, I came across this conversational tome by one of my favorite authors, and I can say that everyone should read this book. It's informational, it's easy to read, it's detailed and even-handed, it makes as much sense as it can of a confusing situation.
  3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich / Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn. (I am looking at this list and thinking that the explanation for my general outlook on life might be found in my reading material.) I was part way through this small book about life in a work camp when I put it down and it disappeared into thin air. Where is it? Does my sister have it? I want to finish it. 
  4. Oryx and Crake / Margaret Atwood. I have very purposefully been giving Atwood a large chance to impress me this year, after finally deciding that maybe my deep dislike of Handmaid's Tale wasn't representative of what my reaction would be to all of her work. So far, Oryx and Crake is quite good. 
  5. Herland / Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I usually have at least one book on the go on my phone, in case of emergencies (like long lines) and this one is my current one. 
  6. Hunger's Brides / Paul Anderson. I look at this book and feel bad about my life because it is nearly 1500 pages long and what am I doing with my life? Why haven't I written anything of note? Why haven't I put the required effort into reading this thing? I started it and it was so good and then my arms got tired (because it weighs 40 tonnes) and I got intimidated and now it exists to make me feel inadequate. 
   This isn't even all of them, and some of these are the same as many months ago when I talked about this issue before. Sometimes people ask "what are you reading" and I give them a bit of a blank stare. If I do this to you, please know that I'm not judging you or something, I am just trying to suss out the answer. Do I say the book I read bits of most recently? The one I'm farthest in? The one I'm enjoying the most? There are too many questions. 

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