Found Bookmarks

I have actually designated a box for collecting my bookmarks. If I find any homeless bookmark in my house, it goes in the box. And I have found six so far. They are my favorites from different phases in my life all lost in a pile of stuff or placed in a book I vowed to read and then lost interest after 30 pages.

I do have too many books I have started and never finished. I don't believe I am ever obligated to finishing a book if the writer doesn't engage me. But there are some lovely books I like and want to finish but I get stuck at the last 100 pages. Maybe I should focus on finishing my three-fourth read books before starting anything new, no matter how tempting a new book.

I started a huge tome--the Quentin Bell biography of Virginia Woolf. The writing is so dry and so from another world that it's really difficult to get through the chapters. But I am determined to read through the first 200 or so page before making my final judgment. The beginning of any biography is dull and full of info on people I don't care about such as Virginia Woolf's great great grandfather. And I don't care too much about v. woolf's childhood either. So I'll wait it out and perhaps I'll discover interesting stuff. The Einstein book I've been intending to read for about a month now has won the Quill Award, an award I have never heard of. Well, the ceremony was on TV so the book must be good?

So right now, actively reading:

1. Virginia Woolf, a biography by Quentin Bell
2. The (in)famous The Craft of Research

I had this uncontrollable desire to read the Craft of Research. Unbelievable considering I had refused to read it so many times in college. How annoying it must've been to my professors when this science major asks for help on writing papers and then adamantly refuses the advice of starting with that book? I am not against reading books on writing; in fact, there are a few that I really like (s.a. writing for social scientists, reading like a writer, the elements of style, on writing well). But something about this book just makes me want to write a really crappy paper instead of learning the "craft." It's so textbook-ish and the tone kind of patronizing.

But these days, I do long for a clear explanation on constructing arguments. And I really appreciate the clear, organized, and, well, textbook-ish prose. So I started reading the craft of research. And I like it so far. I think after having struggled with papers, I appreciate this volume more. Kind of like how I understood the elements of style more now that I have actually made most of the mistakes in that book. I also think it's a good idea for me to read the book before entering graduate school (a real one as opposed to a professional school). I am sure I'll read it once more my first year in grad school.