What I'm Reading

Hello, friends!

As many (most? all?) of you know, I love to read. In many ways, I don't read books. The action is more similar to inhaling. I read excessively quickly.

I thoroughly enjoy perusing other people's reading lists. I've never methodically read the entire library given by an individual, but I've found a few gems here and there. I'm hoping this little post might do something similar for you!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Not the sort of book I normally read. In all honesty, I found it rather boring until about 60% of the way through. I just didn't care. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care for the writing style, it was just sorta... meh. I kept reading it because I was stuck on a train. It did really pick up at about the 60% mark, however. I was actually invested from then on. Big caveat: this book is not easy to read. It describes some really awful, violent, disgusting things in detail. It's brutal and honest. Not for the sensitive ladies in my life.

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells
Maybe I shouldn't have started with a book that I felt so apathetic about. It might give you the impression that I don't get emotionally involved in books. That impression would be wrong. Because this book? This book I loved. I started it yesterday at about nine thirty at night. I read it straight through. Hello, one thirty in the morning. I laughed, I cried, I dropped it in surprise. I enjoyed this book more than any book I've read in a long time. This book had so many jewel-like sentences. I want to read it again just to sit and savor those statements. To mull them over and, perhaps, write them down somewhere, so that I might be further edified by them later.

On the Musically Beautiful
Non-fiction, not new, not pretty. If I had to describe it in two words, I'd choose these: German Rant. If you have an opinion about what music is or ought to be, you might enjoy this book. I found it to be a page-turner. It was a bit redundant, but that's forgivable since it's interesting and so short. Again, rather rant-like, but I don't mind rants sometimes. I especially enjoy written rants by people who are long-dead. This is probably weird, but I feel at liberty to giggle about their strong, enthusiastic language & uncompromising views.

Doctor Who and Philosophy
This isn't a book as much as a collection of pseudo-academic papers concerning the philosophy of Doctor Who. Not much is explicitly stated in the cult-classic show about the writers' philosophical beliefs, but these papers explore the various prevalent theories and explore their ramifications (both within the show and in our real world). It's a very speculative, wondering, and wandering. Just what this TAC nerd ordered.

Attachments 
Equal parts interesting and fluffy. The major this question raised in my mind (which, to be fair, had nothing to do specifically with this book, but happened to pop into my head when I was reading it) was "How accurate could a book about a man falling in love, written from the man's perspective, be if it's actually written by a woman?" Seriously, this can't be a very helpful portrait of how a man's mind works. This book, overall, was the epitome of a summer novel. It had funny parts, frustrating parts, etc... it isn't a book that will change my life or that I will ever read again. I was content to read it, though. 

The Rosie Project
Do you enjoy "Big Bang Theory?" If so, read this book. It's stitch-in-your-side funny. If you hate Sheldon and couldn't stand to be in his head, rooting for him to find a wife, then you'll hate this book. I read it in a few hours and laughed so hard. This is one I will probably go back to for a second helping.

Someday, Someday, Maybe
Meh. Funny, but not engrossing. Again, I read it because I was on a train. It wasn't a book I would choose over a marathon of "House, M.D." The enjoyment I did take from it came in the form of what I found familiar: a young woman struggling to achieve her dream of becoming a successful actress in New York. No, no, not that I want to be an actress, but I live close enough to LA to have heard many stories and seen many people in the midst of that very battle. The tongue-in-cheek, but also slightly desperate, tone was familiar, yet charming somehow. 

Summer at Tiffany
Memoir, diary, autobiography? All of the above, really. It's the story of a college coed & her summer employment at Tiffany's in New York. Light, non-dramatic, not a proper story with "a hero, struggling against an obstacle, to achieve a goal," but still an enjoyable story. It was like stepping back in time to the 1940s. What was it like to come from a small town in search of summer employment? To have a beau preparing to leave for the European theater of WWII? To spot celebrities and handle their jewelry that cost more than your college education? Reading this book felt like visiting an old lady in her dining room, sitting primly in a chair, sipping properly prepared tea, while you listened to stories from her youth. It was a prettily packaged, highly fascinating, history lesson.

That's all for now... what are you reading?