Summer Reading

In the interest of non-intervention, I will ignore intersibling rivalry, questions of social concern, monetary worries, and the frightening loss of my credit card (don't get too freaked. . .it hasn't been used and I haven't checked all of my pockets just yet). There is some happy news as well: I purchased a new computer today, and it should arrive in 3-5 business days. Hurray for no longer being dependent upon the occassionally funky-smelling ResComp!

So, as the days stretch out before me, with no jobs other than partying hard through the month of May, I find myself with a blissful lack of stress and new deluge of time to spend doing that which i do best: no, not making weird laughing noises, nor stuffing my face, nor even losing things, but rather reading. I completed the first book of summer at 3:15 last night: Atonement, by Ian McEwan.

Let me preface this entry (can it count as a preface if it doesn't arrive until the third paragraph? I see no harm in it) by stating that Ian McEwan is a must-read author for anyone. He writes lyrically and simply, and his words emulate the senses. That being said, he is not a particularly narratively-driven writer--there is no strict plot to his novels, no gradual anticipation building to a climax, but rather a growing unease, a sense of emotional urgency that does not correlate to the actual events of the book. No John Grisham, he, nor even a Nora Roberts, but more of a James Joyce on a meandering stroll through Dublin, with nowhere in particular to head and no sense of direction or destination.

So, yes, I strongly encourage the reading of McEwan. Saturday is a marvelous read for anyone with the desire to truly experience the world post 9/11 in a literary fashion, while Atonement is positively brilliant meta-fiction for anybody interested in that brand of writing.

Up next on my list of summer reading is A Plot Against America by Phillip Roth, Gravity's Rainbow, the short stories of Dubus, Infinite Plan by Allende, and some book by Henry Roth about Jews living in the burroughs of New York. Clearly, these readings will only take me a month, so I welcome any further suggestions of reading material, preferably novels with significance, but not those overwhelmingly difficult to absorb (*cough, Faulkner, *cough).

Similarly, I need to discover a DVD set of television episodes to amuse me on those nights when my lightbulb needs changing and I haven't yet found the time. yet again, all suggestions welcomed and appreciated.

And now. . .I am going to cease procrastinating for the minor amount of studying I must do in regards to my exam this afternoon, and then I am going to go shopping--er, I mean job-hunting.

Much love to my peeps
J