Silas Marner, by George Eliot
But Christmas puddings, brawn, and abundance of spirituous liquors, throwing the mental originality into the channel of nightmare, are great preservatives against a dangerous spontaneity of waking thought.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.
Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.
24 in 48 Finish Line
Stats for the weekend:
- 20 hours and 15 minutes of reading
- 1,440 pages
I didn't quite make 24 hours, but I did make a dent in my to-read pile.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
24 in 48
I realize I haven't posted here since last summer's 48 Hour Book Challenge; but I've been reading, I promise! Now I'm dusting off the blog to participate in the 24 in 48 Readathon, and I'm so excited!
First up, Life of Pi.
First up, Life of Pi.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
48-Hour Book Challenge Finish Line
For this year's challenge, I read 20 hours and 30 minutes total. This included:
- 3 complete novels (Voyage of the Basilisk, I'll Give You the Sun, Portrait in Sepia)
- 2 non-fiction books partially (Darwin and the Barnacle, Quack This Way)
- 3 hours and 45 minutes of an audio book (Furies of Calderon)
- Half an hour of social media time
Quack This Way, by David Foster Wallace and Bryan A. Garner
DFW: ... You find certain writers who when they write, it makes your own brain voice like a tuning fork, and you just resonate with them. And when that happens, reading those writers--not all of whom are modern...I mean, if you are willing to make allowances for the way English has changed, you can go way, way back with this--becomes a source of unbelievable joy. It's like eating candy for the soul.
DFW: ... You find certain writers who when they write, it makes your own brain voice like a tuning fork, and you just resonate with them. And when that happens, reading those writers--not all of whom are modern...I mean, if you are willing to make allowances for the way English has changed, you can go way, way back with this--becomes a source of unbelievable joy. It's like eating candy for the soul.
"Mr Arthrobalanus" by Simon Carnell (from Darwin and the Barnacle)
Distinctively deviant,
you're an angel
dancing on the pinhead of yourself,
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