a banville a day

i've never read a book as slowly as i have john banville's 'the sea.' if you knew me, or at least were familiar with my frequently visited places, you'd see me read a few pages - in some cases, a paragraph, or even a single sentence - and throw the book down in a sort of lingering, jealous disgust. banville's prose is thick. ridiculously thick. i haven't read most of his work.

it's really more like eating an incredibly sumptuous meal - i feel full after each time i sit down to read a piece of it, and i can go no further. loosen the belt a notch, sit back, look out the window, and sigh.

it's ridiculous how good this book is.

boxer's fracture

i sallied forth on november first, intent on writing 50,000 words.

on the fourth, i gave up.

on the sixth or seventh, i retreated into a rabbit-hole of total depression, got insanely drunk, and ended up fracturing my right hand on the side of my friend & roommate's face. he wouldn't leave me alone, you see. so now i have a cast on. makes it difficult to write. (point of order: he also broke his hand on my face - same injury! - though i'm sure he would like it elucidated that he hit me three times whereas i only hit him once.) plus, i have to find a new place to live. so i haven't had much time to read, but in the throaty interim, i've acquired:

the mysterious flame of queen loana (umberto eco)
the wooden sea (jonathan carroll)
blood meridian (cormac mccarthy)

& today:

the sea (john banville) - JUST because of the random line i read:

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

i'm nearly done with the wooden sea. nice little sarcastic, humor-y bit of scifi surrealism.

dying to read the new pynchon, since it's out in paperback. also dying to read the gunslinger graphic novel. there's also a new clive barker (mr b gone?) & a new alan lightman (ghost).

I HAVE NO TIME

(books i plan to read soon:

half-life (shelley jackson)
suttree (cormac mccarthy)
ghostwritten & cloud atlas (david mitchell)
the possibility of an island (michel houllebecq)
riddley walker (russell hoban)
god is dead (ron currie, jr)
varieties of disturbance (lydia davis)
against the day (pynchon)

)

a new personal record...

because i am a deeply disturbed girl with an unhealthy relationship with books (or maybe it is just my relationship to money that is so unhealthy)i have purchased more than $200 worth of books today. in under 15 minutes.


the booty

haruki murakami's the wind-up bird chronicles & my own edition of kafka on the shore

albert camus's the plague & exile and the kingdom

nabokov's pale fire

truman capote's music for chameleons, other voices, other rooms & breakfast at tiffany's (not a book i'd normally read, but i've watched the movie more than enough to warrant giving it a go-round. plus, obviously i was feeling indulgent.)

there are also others that will remain unmentioned, as they are gifts. and don't bother poking about in my room either, rhianna, they're not here.