Books books books books books! I have books over here and books over here and books over there. BooOooKs are everywhere. The joy of working in a bookstore: exposure to lots and lots of books. But even before my current job I loved books, and reading was always a passionate pass time with me. University has blunted this passion somewhat, or rather not blunted it but refocused it from entertaining fiction to entertaining readings required for courses.
I have not forgotten about fiction books and reading for pleasure instead of academic purposes and over the past year I have put on hold many books I would otherwise have finished and moved on from. Instead at the end of the year now I am left with a pile of books elbow high. (Well, not really, maybe if I stacked them end-to-end. More reasonable stacking would have them just above my knee. Still... a lot of books.) So here is a brief exploration of the books I am reading and intend to finish by the time this year is wrung out (to dry).
Foremost on my mind and at my fingertips is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is a long rambling tale following Roberts' life on the run in India and elsewhere. (A heavily fictionalised version of his own life.) More than just a novel, the character Roberts (and the author Roberts) passes on the various life lessons he learns through his observations of the Indian people and the philosophical musings of the crime bosses he comes to know. Not to be taken lightly, the book has to be sat through and read to get full enjoyment out of it. Just stick with it. I'm only just coming up on Part 3 of the book and am about 400 pages in. Still got another 500 to go.
Next up is a novel by Marian Keyes titled Anybody Out There? Fluffy literature requiring little to no thought on the part of the reader. So, so very shallow, and yet still entertaining. It's fun to imagine along with the main character and experience her life in the trenches as it were. Completely told from the character's perspective, feels like a window was opened on a very personal and real life. (I realise of course everybody's lives are quite personal. What I mean is the main character is talking to the reader about very personal stuff and keying us into her very unique phraseology and terminology, making it tough not to pick up and use a few of the terms yourself. Like "jolly boy". I'll leave you to figure that one out.)
Two Haruki Murakami books wait for me: After Dark and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The latter is a non-fiction book covering Murakami's thoughts about running and what running means to him. Essentially a journal. The former is his latest novel to be translated into English (his latest published novel is 1Q84 and will only receive an English translation publication in 2011. Another reason for me to wish I knew how to read Japanese). I am not far in either, first two chapters. What I have read has kept them near at hand, but unfortunately they have not sprung into my hands late at night before going to sleep. Soon they will be, they will be (said in the Emperor's voice).
There are other books floating around, including the novel adaptation of the film screenplay adapted from the 1963 childrens book Where The Wild Things Are called The Wild Things written by Dave Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with the film's director Spike Jonze. Alain De Botton's A Week At The Airport is quickly being devoured by my hungry mind. And it helps that it's printed on beautiful paper with colour photographs in it too. A study of airport goings on during a week at Heathrow Airport, the book is small and short, perfect for in flight reading or while waiting for an airplane. It will open your eyes to the world around you in the airport.
I think there are several other books I'm reading and going into every single one would be tedious. This post is getting quite big already. Not sure what the next post will be about, but I recently had a hankering to showcase some atrocious romance novel titles and there is no time like the present. Another subject I could well explore is my trip to Kleinmond, which I am embarking on tomorrow morning for the next three days. Will make sure to write lots of stuff down, in between playing video games and eating sea food and pizzas.
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