What I'm Reading, What I've Read

fairytalemood:

At Times I Almost Dream: Stories by Amy E. Yergen

Amy E. Yergen, hailed as “brilliant” by Publishers Weekly for her story “Rapunzel’s Daughters,” returns to Pink Narcissus with At Times I Almost Dream, a collection of stories that push the envelope for strong female characters by exploring the very notion of strength. Explore the social and romantic complexities of physical difference in Thumbelina’s blog. Consider the extent to which finding a compatible roommate is similar to kissing frogs. By introducing surrealistically analogous contemporary situations, Yergen’s dream-like fiction extends folklore and fairy tales, rendering familiar heroines simultaneously strange and universal.

follow Amy on tumblr

Definitely going on the To-Read list.

House Of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

Everybody needs to read this book. But you need to read it at the right time in your life. And don’t read it at night.

This book is spooky and wonderful and intense. It sucks you in. Sometimes you have to read three chapters without stopping, sometimes you can’t read a whole page at once. Aside from the story itself, it plays with form and shape and storytelling unlike any other book that comes to mind. You really have to actively read this story. I can’t wait to read it again and again; I have a feeling I’ll never really have read it all.

If you decide to read this book, take your time doing so. Read every footnote, look up every reference, check every appendix. if you don’t understand a passage, reread it until you do. It’s worth the effort.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the Kings by J. R. R. Tolkien

I did it. I finally finished it. I started the series in June, and seven months later, I finished. I got burned out at the beginning of this book and had to take a long break, but I made it, and I’m so glad I did.

It took me so long that I couldn’t really give an accurate representation of my impressions anymore, but I will say I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the part back in the Shire. It was wonderful for them to get to see how their experience had helped them grow. So few people get that. It made me feel like I had something to offer in the way of wisdom, and I don’t have any sort of experience! And I’m really excited for all the historic appendices in the back. Tumblr has helped me get a bunch of the base facts down enough through reiteration that I feel like I can actually follow a lot better than i would have been able to otherwise, and it’s interesting linguistically to watch the names evolve and change over time. (Especially since Tolkien never mentions it outright so I can make my own theories and see how they do.)

The Identity of Oedipus the King: Five Essays on the ‘Oedipus Tyrannus’ by Alister Cameron

These essays were, in my opinion, badly written. They were far too long, meandering and overstuffed with irrelevant information. I have no idea what any of the three I read were trying to prove. Also, he kept saying “I believe” or :at least in my opinion” which was not only distracting but made his arguments sound weak and half-hearted. I am not aware of Cameron’s standing in the academic community, but in the future I will avoid him in my research at all costs.

Sophocles and Oedipus: A Study of Oedipus Tyrannus with a New Translation by Philip Vellacott

The premise of this study is that Oedipus was aware of his identity as heir of Thebes all along, instead of discovering it during the action of the play. It’s really fascinating. Obviously, this isn’t a light read for most, as it expects you to be familiar with the action of the play, but as a translation is included that shouldn’t be a problem for anyone with due interest. If you are interested in this kind of thing, you should definitely give it a read.

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

I didn’t like it. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading so much sci-fi lately that it was an abrupt transition into Melville. But I felt like the whole story was this brilliant build-up, then the ending was just a big huge NOPE. At first I thought it would be a touching story, that Bartleby was going blind or was illiterate or something they would overcome together. Then I thought Bartleby was going to be an automaton for quite a while. I mean, I enjoy a good character study as much as the next girl, but I wasn’t reading it like that because it seemed like such an event-driven story from the start. It was my first Melville, and while the writing itself was on a classic level, I don’t really believe the story was.