We lost two great writers in one day: both J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn passed away last Wed.
I have always liked Salinger’s Franny and Zooey more than The Catcher in the Rye. In fact, Franny and Zooey was my favorite book in high school. I still remember gobbling up the book one hot summer night in 10th grade.
I have never finished Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States for the reason that it is too depressing and I can’t seem to take more than one chapter at a time.
Rest in Peace.
The Morgan Library & Museum is doing an exhibition called “A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy.” I plan on going there this Sunday and I am so excited. How wonderful it is that I get to visit when I am at the height of my Austen obsession! But one little prickly yet very exciting task: I am, in preparation for the visit, reading Pride and Prejudice this week.
How can I feel ambivalent about having to read Pride and Prejudice? While I am definitely enjoying the book, it is having a deadline that makes me a bit nervous. I do set reading goals for myself but this is different: I absolutely must read this book by Sunday as I’ve made a commitment not only to myself but to a close friend as well. I guess I can say, if I don’t in fact finish, that I’ve read the book when I was a teenager. But I don’t think it counts as I absolutely hated the book so much back then that it’s amazing I even got to the end. That is to say, I didn’t understand the book. So without a suitable excuse for not finishing, I have no choice but to read and enjoy.
But oh I am no longer used to doing a required reading. The deadline, oh the deadline, looms large! How will I concentrate and enjoy the prose when I am afraid I won’t make it? Yes, yes, I divided the number of pages by the number of days and yes yes, it is a doable number of pages per day. But still I fret.
I don’t know how I juggled all the required reading for many years as a student when the number of pages per day was not particularly doable. But then again, I did not juggle so well…
It’s only the middle of Jan and you already started falling behind your blogging schedule?!? Terribly flaky!
Well, I am a bit under the weather so I need to head to bed early. But I promise to be back to the tue/thr posting schedule next week!
I have to first say: I do want bookstores to stay afloat, and I really (in most cases) believe the authors and everyone else in the publishing world should get paid well. However, I must admit: there’s something exhilarating about finding and buying a book that’s been lingering on my wishlist at a significant discount. Furthermore, I feel grumpy and jealous when I see a book I paid full price for on sale. For example, I paid full price for the hardcover copy of Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Issacson (alright alright, I made my dad buy me that one). I have now seen it in the Bargain Books section of Barnes & Noble a couple of times for less than ten dollars. Ugh, I feel upset. More weirdly, I find myself having to restrain myself from buying the book again just to feel great about having gotten the book on sale. When I find myself making a list of reasons for owning more than one copy of a book I like, I have to force myself to turn around and walk away. Oh but I have to admit—when the cover is different, it’s not that easy to do although I’ve been pretty much successful at not owning multiple copies of the same title.
In any case, made all the more special because it was on Christmas eve, I found a couple of great books at the Bargain Books section of Barnes & Noble (which doesn’t always happen).
One is a book I’ve been wanting to read for awhile:
Special topics in calamity physics: a novel... by Marisha Pessl.
Oh and it was autographed!
I also bought a book that might shed some light on the elusive world of publishing. It also seems like the kind of book I can read when concentration is a challenge:
How I got published: Famous authors tell you in their own words edited by Ray White and Duane Lindsay.
Although it bothers me that a part of the front cover is obscured, I never peel off the pricing sticker. I like to see and reminisce the time I got a great deal on the book… but more importantly, I like the little affixed memento of the bookstore, the situation, and the point of my mental development when I got the book. I reminisce about the Seminary Coop Bookstore back in college when I see their distinct price label in a book I got for a class or for a weekend reading in Burton Judson. Strand bookstore labels I especially like because they have a date imprinted on them. I am not exactly sure what the date signifies, but I find that I purchase most books pretty close to the date on the label. So I time travel with the labels.
This year is off to a sluggish reading start… but I am excited with so many books on my bookshelf. Have a happy reading year!
One of my favorite things to read in the Sunday New York Times is the “Sunday Routine” column in Metropolitan section. I am not really sure why, but I think it’s a combination of the following: circadian rhythm is so elusive to me so I am always amazed at how everyone seems to possess a routine; adulthood is elusive to me so it’s fascinating to see how adults (successful ones, I suppose, to have been chosen by the NYT) maneuver their Sundays.
I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about (the sustainability of) rituals and (the value of) routines. And I thought, now that it’s a new year and I am allowed to make all sorts of plans, I should try posting more routinely here as a personal ritual. I am thinking Tuesdays and Thursdays. And what do you know—it’s Tuesday! I don’t always have things to say, but I think blogs are supposed to be updated regularly so here goes.
I heard a disturbing news, a news made more disturbing by the fact that I was not able to check the validity of this news until last Sunday. Shee and Esther Unni informed me a couple of weeks ago that there is a GREEN banner at The Strand bookstore, replacing its signature RED and WHITE motif. I expressed my sincere hope that it was just for the holidays, that since they already had lots of red, they perhaps wanted to add some green temporarily to mark the festive season. Shee pointed out, however, that the banner looked pretty permanent.
Well, this Sunday, on my way to buy my 2010 Moleskine planner, I had a chance to check out the said banner. Walking down Broadway, I was able to see that there was indeed a dancing Strand banner in green. Oh but still hoping that this was only for the holidays, I overcame my intense dislike for talking to people and asked a person working there about it…
I was able to confirm with her, as far as she knew, that the banner is temporary, JUST FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON!
Whew!
Not that I hate green. In fact, it’s my favorite color. And I’ll admit, it was a nice banner, one that was definitely adding to the holiday spirit. The banner, however, did trigger my fear that the bookstore is changing. I don’t know why I hate every change made to the store, even the good ones like the addition of air conditioning. I guess I just hate the idea of changing what I’ve grown comfortable with… man, is this what it’s like to grow old?
Anyway, I think change is (sometimes) necessary, but I hope the bookstore keeps alternations to minimum to make grumpy New Yorkers like me happy. Besides, their red and white candy cane colors are festive enough for any season.
Happy holidays and may everyone encounter many lovely bookstores they don’t want to see changed in 2010.
I am falling quite in love with Jane Austen. Although I've only read 2 of her books so far (Pride and Prejudice as a teenager and hated it; Northanger Abbey recently and loved it), I am quite positive she is one of my favorite authors. Her sentences are not elaborate and experimental like Virginia Woolf's, but I think she's got the psychology down acutely and playfully. I am already sad for my future self who has already read all of her books.
Right now, I am working through Sense and Sensibility. The characters’ Myers-Briggs personality traits are caricatured in hilarious ways. Austen makes the characters seem so human: they are terribly annoying but also so terribly vulnerable. I suppose that’s why I find myself rooting for the characters, all of them, to find true love and, ultimately, contentment. What's great about an Austen novel is I know they will have a happily-ever-after if they just hold on patiently for the last chapter.
